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fPHE PI^AGTIGALi 

OME FARMER, 



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A POPULAR BUIDE FOR THE 



Fai^m and Pii^esidb, 



-SIIOWING- 



The dependence of the World upon the Farmer and his Family, and Giving 

Plain Instructions for the Care and Treatment of the Sick ; also Giving 

the History, Cause, and Means of Prevention of all the Common 

Diseases of Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine, Poultry, Etc. 

WITU THE MOST ArrROVKU TUACTICAL METHODS OF 

SIMPLE HOME TREATMENT. 



Giving Numerous Tables, and a Large Amount of General Information of 
Especial Value to the House- Wife, Children and Students. 



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EDITKIV^ND COMPItiKD BY 

K. L. IVTUNROB. 




QJlOtH ft IJAf^GE nUMBEf? OP IliliUSTI^AiPIONS. 



LITTLEROCK, ARK.: 
^ UNION FRINTING COMFANY' 



Pkintkes and Publishbbs, 

1S87. 



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COPYRIGHTED 1886 

BY 

F. L. MU N ROE 



Inti^odugtion. 



Upon the farmer and the mechanic rests the entire structure of civilization, and 
pre-eminently so upon the farmer. 

When reliance on agriculture has ceased, nations have invariahly receded from 
their high position and sunk into oblivion. 

The wonderful prosperity of the United States is almost wholly due to the 
immense agricultural resources of the country. 

Many books called cyclopedias, manuals, etc., have been written and compiled, 
having in view the alleged object of "Educating the farmer." These books are for 
the most part filled with " isms," "ologys," and learned and scientific expressions; 
long, tedious and intricate tables, charts, etc., all of which renders them of little use 
to the busy, active, thinking man, who has no time to pore over long scientific 
dissertations. 

The author of the "Practical Home Farmer" does not expect to educate the 
farmer, because the farmer is rapidly educating himself. 

This work is designed as a store-house of general information and a companion 
for every day u.sc, ot easy access, and readily understood at a moment's glance by the 
seeker after facts, whether it be the father, the mother, the son or the daughter. 

"Excellence and merit" is the standard by which America measures her 
productions. 

That this work be measured by that standard, is the kindly wish of 

THE EDITOB. 



©ABLE OP (Contents. 



PART 1. 

THE HOME, 9— Sons and Daughters on the Farm, 15— Adorning the Home, 16— 
Common Sense Farming, Study Your Farm, Rotation and Crops, 17 — A Simple 
Rotation, 18 — Effect of Bad Season, 19 — Elaborate Rotation, Grass-Seed and 
Meadows, 20 — An Eastern Man on Rotation, 21 — A Southern Planter's 
Testimony, 22— Ignorance Versus Intelligence, 24. 

PAET 2. 

CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION: The Cereals Described, 25— Corn in 
the United States, 26— Different Kinds of Wheat, 27— Proper Wheat Soils, 28 
— Drilling Gives the Best Results, Time to Seed and Harvest, 29— Oats and Their 
Cultivation, Buckwheat, 31 — Seeding and Harvesting Buckwheat, The Corn 
Crop in the United States, 32— How to Increase the Average, 34 — The Cultiva- 
tion of Corn, Plowing, Planting the Crop, 35 — Harrowing the Young Corn, 36 
After Cultivation of Corn, 37— How Often to Cultivate, 38— Depth of Cultiva- 
tion, 39 — Harvesting the Crop, 40 — Seed Corn, Cost of a Corn Crop, 42 — Culti- 
vation of Rice, 44-^Management of Rice Fields, 46 — Some Special Crops, 47. 

PART 3. 

MEADOW AND PASTURE GRASSES: The Value of Grass, The Alphabet of 
Agriculture, 49 — The Seed Crop, 50 — Sowing for Hay and for Pasture, 51 — 
Interchange of Grasses Between Nations, 53 — Seeding Meadows, 54 — Clover in 
its Relation to Husbandry, 55. 

PART 4. 

SOILING, FODDER AND ROOT CROPS: Soiling Compared with Pasturing 
Soiling Indispensable in Dairy Districts, 57— Soiling as Against Fencing, 58 — 
How to Raise a Soiling Crop, 59—The Advantages of Soiling, 61— Root Crops 
for Forage, 62 — Things to Remember in Root Culture, 63 — Preparing for the 
Root Crop, 64 — Sowing and Cultivating, 65 — Harvesting Root Crops, 66 — Pitting 
and Cellaring the Roots, 67 — The Artichoke, 68. 

PART 5. 

SILOS AND ENSILAGE: What is Ensilage? Silos and Ensilage Long Known in 
Europe, 69— The Father of Ensilage, 72— What Ensilage may Do, 73— Feeding 



2 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Value of Ensilage, 74 — The History of Ensilage, Fermentation Should be 
Avoided, 15 — Ensilage in the United States, 76 — Hnw to Build a Silo, 77 — Size 
of Silos for Certain Numbers of Stock, 78 — Practical Experience and Results, 79 
— Perfect Food and Rations, Some Statements of the Quantity Fed, 85 — The 
Cost of Bnsilage in Massachusetts, 88 — Building a Model Silo, 89 — Practical 
Conclusions from Careful Experiments, 90. 

TAKT 6. 

TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS: Cotton— Its History and Cultivation, 91— 
Increasing Importance of Cotton, 93 — The Best Cotton States, OTi — The Cultiva- 
tion of Cotton, 96 — Preparation of the Soil, 98 — Tending the Growing Crop, 100 
— Flax and its Cultivation, 102 — Proper Soil for Flax Seeding, 103 — Harvesting 
Flax, 104 — Hemp and its Cultivation, Raising a Crop of Hemp Seed, 105 — 
Raising Hemp for Lint, 106 — The Time to Harvest Hemp, 107 — Rotting and 
Breaking for Market, 108 — Conclusions on Flax and Hemp, 109 — Jute and its 
Cultivation, 110 — Growth and Harvesting of Jute, 111 — Preparing Jute Fiber, 
112. 

PART 7. 

SPECIAL CROPS: Hop Growing in America, Cost of Raising, 113— Establishing 
a Hop Yard, The Proper Situation and Soil, 114 — Preparing for the Crop, 115 — 
Setting the Plants, 116 — Care of the Hop Yard, Cultivation in Crop Years, 118 
— Picking the Hops, 119 — Drying the Hops, 120 — Management in the Kiln, 122 
— The Cultivation of Tobacco, 124 — Soils and Situations for Tobacco, 125 — The 
True Tobacco Belt, 126 — Raising the Crop South, 127 — Transplanting, Cultivat- 
ing and Worming, 129 — The Seed Bed, Raising Plants North, 131 — Preparing 
the Land, 132 — Planting at the North, 133 — Proper way to Transplant Tobacco, 
134— The Cultivation, 135— Cutting and Curing Tobacco, 136— The Tobacco 
House, 137 — Twelve Rules for Tobacco Growers, 139 — Cultivation of Peanuts, 
140 — Gathering the Nuts, 141 — After-Management and Care of Seed, 142 — Sweet 
Potatoes, Field Culture of Sweet Potatoes, 143 — Keeping Sweet Potatoes in 
Winter, 145 — Garden Cultivation of Sweet Potatoes, 146. 

PART 8. 

CROPS FOR SUGAR MAKING: Sugar and its Manufacture, History of Beet 
Sugar in the United States, 147 — The Three Sugars Compared, 148 — Cultivation 
of Sugar Cane. 149— Cultivation of Sorghum, 150— The Real Test of Value, 151 
Making Sugar on the Farm, 153 — General Conclusions, 156 — Maple Sugar, 157 
— Tapping the Trees, 158 — Boiling and Sugaring, Sugaring OflF, 159 — To Tell 
When Sugar is Done, 160. 

PART 9. 

COMFORT AND PROFIT IN THE HOMESTEAD: Pioneer Fcrming, 165— 
Look to the Details, 166 — Improving the Farm, True Success in Farming, 167 — 
Thrift and Unthrift Illustrated, 168— The Careful Farmer's Barn, 170— How to 
Select a Claim of Land, 171 — Diversity of Crops, Wind-Breaks and Groves, 172 
— Starting the Orchard, 173 — How to Clear a Timbered Farm, 174 — Deadening 
Timber, 175— The Work of Improvement, 176. 



TABLE OP CONTENTS. O 

PART 10. 

FARMS AND THEIR IMPROVEMENT: Soils Indicating a Variety of Crops, 
Adaptation of Crops to Localities, 177— Starting a Dairy, 178 — When to Hold 
the Crops, When to Sell the Crop, 180— Study the Probabilities, 181— Situation 
of the Farm, 182 — Some Things to be Remembered, 183 — Leasing a Farm, 184 
— Fences, Hedges and Gates, Relative Cost of Fences and Buildings, 185 — Cost 
of Farm Fences in the United States, 187— Stringing a Wire Fence, 188— 
Portable Fences, 189— Bars and Gates, The Slide and Swing Gate, 190— Hedges, 
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Hedges, 191— How to Prepare the Hedge- 
Row, 192— Trimming the Hedge, 193— Setting the Hedge, 194— Finishing the 
Planting, Cultivation, 195 — Drainage, The Importance of Draining, 196 — 
Practical Men on Tile Drainage, 191-^\ Dry Surface May Need Drainage, What 
an Ohio Farmer Says, 198— Draining in Indiana, 200— Draining in Michigan, 
201— Illinois Experience, 202— A Right and a Wron^ Way for Open Drains, 
203— When it Pays to Drain a Farm, Stock Water from Drains, 205— The 
Formation of Underdrains, 206 — Various Means of Drainage, 207 — Lands 
Requiring Drainage, 208 — How to Know Lands Requiring Drainage, 210 — 
Importance of Drainage to Stock Men, 211. 

PART 11. 

PLANS AND DIRECTIONS FOR COUNTRY HOUSES: Building According 
to Means, 215 — When to Build, 216 — The Provident Farmer's Marriage Settle- 
ments, 217— How to Build, 218 — What to Build, Taste and Judgment in the De- 
tails, 220— Where to Build, 221— The Water Supply, 222— House Drainage, 223 
— Ventilation, 224 — Building Material and the Builder's Art, Building Material, 
How to Make Unburned Brick, 225 — A Pretty Rural Home, Specifications of 
Farm and Other Buildings, Outline of Specifications for House of Wood with 
Stone or Brick Foundations, 227— Suburban or Farm Cottage, 228— Masonry 
and Mason's Work, 229 — A Convenient Cottage, Carpentry and Carpenter 
Work, 231— Painter's Work, Tinner's and Plumber's Work, 237— School House 
and Church Architecture, 238 — Rustic Seats and Summer Houses, 239 — Grouping 
Farm Buildings, 241 — Granaries, Corn-Houses and Corn-Cribs, 242 — Glossary of 
Scientific Names Used in Architecture, 243. 

PART 12. 

MECHANICS AS APPLIED TO THE FARM: The Farm Workshop, 257— 
Sharpening Tools, 258 — Proper Way to File an Implement, 259 — Repairing 
Common Implements, 260 — Shingling a Roof, 261 — Making a Hay-Rack, Stone 
Fences, 262 — Moving Heavy Stones, 263. 

PART 13. 

ORCHARD, VINEYARD "AND SMALL FRUIT GARDEN: The Farm 
Orchard and Garden, 267 — Arrangement of the Home Orchard, 268 — How to 
Prepare for an Orchard, 270 — Laying Out the Orchard and Planting, 272 — When 
to Buy Trees and When to Plant Them, 274 — What Varieties to Plant, Apples, 
Their Cultivation and Varieties, 276— The Cherry, 277 — Pears, Their Variety 



4 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

and Cultivation, Peaches, 278— The Small Fruits, 279— Picking and Packing 
Orchard Fruit, 280— The; Grapes for Farmers, 281— Grafting and Budding. 
Grafts, Cuttings_and;;Seedlings, 284— The Grafter's Art, 285— How tn Graft, 
Cutting and Saving;Scions,'_286— Grafting-Wax, 287— Budding, When to Bud, 
288 — How to Prepare the Buds, 289 — Materials Necessary for Budding, Spring 
Budding, 290— Grafting'the Grape, 291. 

PART 14. 

VEGETABLE GARDENING:' Economy of the Garden, 292— How One Man 
Became a Gardner, 293— The Hot-Bed, 295— Laying Up the Hot-Bed, 296— The 
Soil for Hot-Beds, How to Have Early Rhubarb, 297— Take Time by the Pore- 
lock, 298— Planting in the Moon, 299— How to Raise Potatoes, 300. 

PART 15. 

GARDEN FLOWERS AND SHRUBS: The Flower Garden, 301— How to Culti- 
vate Flowers, 302 — Select List of Flowers for General Cultivation, 30.^ — Ever- 
lasting Flowers and Ornamental Grasses, 310 — Trellises, 312 — Common Sense 
Timber Planting,'_The Economy^of Timber,;^313— What Timber Really Does for 
a Country, What Timber to Plant, 314— Trees, 317. 

PART 10. 

FARM LAW: Laws Governing Farmer's Animals, Liability for Injury by Dogs, 
321 — Trespassing Upon Property, 322 — Division Fences, 324 — Railway Fences 
and Trespass, Railways Running Through Farms, 325 — Public Road Ways, 326 
The Right of the'Publicin'the Road, 327 — Avoiding Obstructions in the Road, 
Right of Way Over Lands of Others, 328 — Liability of the Farmer for His 
Servants, 329 — Rights Relating to Water and Drainage, 330 — Liability of 
Dealers, 331— Hiring Help, Specific Wages, 322— What is a Farm? 333— Getting 
a Farm Free, 334 — The Public Land .System, 335 — Pre-emption, Homestead and 
Timber Culture Acts, The Homestead Law, 336— The Timber Culture Act, 337— 
Land Taken Under the Three Acts, 338— The Desert Land Act, 339— Lands yet 
Open to Settlement, Needed Reform in Farm Law, 340 — Fish and Game Laws, 
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 342 — Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 343 — Con- 
necticut, New York, 344 — Pennsylvania, 345 — New Jersey, Delaware, 346 — Ohio, 
Michigan, 347 — Wisconsin, Minnesota, 348 — Game Laws in Old and New States, 
California's Experience, Clamor Against Useful Birds, 349 — Laws Relating to 
Dogs, 350 — Massachusetts, Maine, 351 — New Hampshire, Vermont, 352— Khode 
Island, New York, 353 — Pennsylvania, Indiana, 354 — Ohio, Delaware, 355 — 
Michigan, Wisconsin, 356 — Minnesota, 357 — Stock and Estray Laws, Estrays, 
358 — Stock Laws of the NewfEngland States, Maine and New Hampshire, Ver- 
mont 359 — Massachusetts, 360 — Rhode Island, 361 — Connecticut, Stock Laws 
of the Middle States, New York, 363 — New Jersey, 364 — Pennsylvania, Dela- 
ware, 365 — Stock Laws of the Southern States, Maryland, Virginia, 366 — Geor- 
gia, The Caroliuas, 367 — Florida, Texas, Mississippi, 368 — Alabama, Arkansas, 
370 — Kentucky, Stock Laws of the Western States, 371 — West Virginia, Ohio, 
372 — Illinois, 373 — Missouri, 375 — Michigan, 37C — Wisconsin, Minnesota, 377 — 
Iowa, 378 — Kansas, 379 — Nebraska and the Territories, Oregon, State Laws 



TABLE Of CONTENTS. 5 

Relating to Fences, 381 — Fence Laws in General, 382 — Fence Laws in the New 
England States, 383 — Fence Laws in the Middle States, New Jersey, 384 — New 
York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 385 — Fence Laws in the South, Maryland, Vir- 
ginia, Georgia, 386 — South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, 387 — Mississippi, Texas, 
Arkansas, 388 — Tennessee, Kentucky, Fence Laws in the Western States, Ohio, 
389 — Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, 390 — Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 391 — 
Iowa, 392 — Kansas, 393 — Nebraska, Fence Laws of the Pacific Slope, California, 
394 — Rights of Married Women, Property Rights, 396 — Good Business Maxims, 
Some Hints on Business Laws, 398 — Definitions of Mercantile Terms, 399 — Bus- 
iness Characters, 401. 

PART 17. 

HORSES: How to Observe Disease, The Pulse, 405— Treatment of Disease, 406— 
■ Spasmodic Colic, 407— Flatulent Colic, 408— Stercoral Colic, 410— Curb, 411— 
Simple Diarrhoea, Continued Diarrhoea, Food, 412 — Thrush, 414 — Acute Founder, 
415 — Grease, 417 — Heaves, 419 — Hints on Humanity to Animals, 420 — Inflama- 
tion, Influenza, 425 — Hide Bound, Ring Bone, 427 — Spavin, 428 — Splint, String- 
halt, 431— Sweeny, Worms, 432— Disease of Cattle, 435 — Abortion, 436— Pro- 
lapsus of the Bladder, 441 — Calving, 442 — Retention of the Placenta, or After- 
birth, 446 — Choking, 448 — Loss of the Cud, Simple Diarrhoea, 449— Chronic 
Diarrhix'a, Diarrhtea in Calves, 450 — Pleuro-Pneumonia, 451 — Rupture in Calves, 
456 — Spaying, Advantages of Spayed Cows, 457 — Teats, 459 — Diseases of Sheep, 
460 — Brapy Ententes, Inflammation of the Bowels, 461 — Diarrhoea, Hydro- 
cephalus, Hydatidens, Sturdy, 462 — Louping 111, 466 — Foot-Rot, 467 — Pneumo- 
nia, Scab, 468 — Rot, 472 — Poisoning by Sheep Laures-Kalmia, Small Pox, 475 — 
Medicines, Acids, Pyroligneous Acid, 477 — Acetic Acid, Muriatic Acid, Nitric 
Acid, or Aqua Fortis, Sulphuric Acid, 478 — Prussic Acid, Aconite, 479 — Alcohol, 
Aloes, 480 — Alum, Ammonia, 481 — Anscsthetics, Aniseed, Anodynes, Antimony, 
482 — Black Antimony, Antiseptics, 483 — Anti-spasmodics, Areca Nut, Arnica, 
Arsenic, 484 — Assafcetida, Asarabacca, Astringents, 485 — Belladonna, Benzoin, 
Benjole, 486 — Subnitrate of Bismuth, Borax, Bromide of Potassium, Buckthorn, 
Calamine, 487 — Calcium, Calomel, 488 — Camphor, Carbolic Acid, 489 — Carda- 
nious. Carbonate of Lime, 490 — Carraway, Castor Oil, Cassia, 491 — Catchu, Chalk, 
Chamomile, Charcoal, 492 — Wormseed, Chlorine, Gas, 493— Ether, Chloride of 
Lime, Chloroform, 494 — Cholagogues, Cinchona, 495 — Cochineal, Cod Liver 
Oil, Colchicum, 496 — Collodion, Copper, 497 — Coriander, Creosote, 498 — Croton 
Oil, Digitalis, Disinfectants, 299 — Diuretics, Elecampane, Slippery Elm Bark, 
Emetics, 501 — Epsom Salts, Ergot, 502 — Ether, Euphorbium, 503 — Expectorants, 
Febrifuges, Fennygreek, Fern, Friar's Balsam, 504 — Galbanum, Nut Galls, Gam- 
boge, 505 — Gentian Root, Ginger, 506 — Sulphate of Soda, Glycerine, 507 — Gum 
Arabic, Gum Senegal, Hartshorn, Hellebore, Hemlock, 508 — Hemp, Henbane, 
509 — Iodine, Iodide of Potassium, 510 — Ipecacuanha, Iron, 513 — Jalap, Juniper 
Berries, Kino, 515 — Konsso, Laudanum, Laxative, Lead, Sugar of Lead, 516 — 
Linseed, Oxide of Lead, Linseed Oil, 517 — Licorice Root, Lobelia, Logwood, 
518 — The Hop, Magnesia, Manganese, Marsh Mallow, Marigold, 519 — Mercury, 
Nitrate of Mercury, 520 — Mejeron, Mustard Seed, 521 — Myrrh, Narcotics, Neats- 
foot Oil, Nervines, Nitre, 522— Nux Vomica, 523— Oak Bark, 524— Oils, Opium, 



6 TABLE OP CONTENTS. 

525 — Peach Leaves, Peppermint, Pepper, Pepsin, 527 — Petroleum, Pitch, Phos- 
phorus, 528 — Pomegranate, Poppies, Potash, 529 — Pumpkin Seeds, Quinine, Ren- 
net, Rhubarb, 530— Saffron, Salt, 531 — Sassafras, Pitcher Plant, 532 — Savin, 
Snake Root, Lunar Caustic, 533 — Soap, Soda, 534 — Spanish Fly, 535— Sperma- 
ceti, 536 — Sweet Spirits of Nitre, Starch, 537— Sugar of Milk, Sulphur, 538— Sul- 
phurous Acid Gas, 539 — Tannin, 540 — Sulphate of Zinc, Tar, 541 — Tobacco, 
Turpentine, 542 — Ursi Ursi, Valerian, Valerianate, 644 — Wax, 545, Willow 
Bark. Yeast, Zinc, 546 — Zinziberis, Zyloidine, 548. 

PART 18. 

PRESCRIPTIONS AND PREPARATIONS: Cerates, 548— Clysters, Drenches, 

.549 — Eye Salves, Freezing Mixtures, 550 — Liniments, 551 — Ointments, 562 — 

Piaster.^, Poultices, 554 — Spirits, Tinctures, 555 — Waters, Medicines to be Kept 

on Hand, 556— Table of Doses, 558— Weights, Measures, Etc., Equivalents, 559. 

PART 19. 

SWINE: American Swine, 560— The Byefield, The Bedford, 562— The Leicester, 
The Yorkshire, 563— The Suffolk, 564— The Berkshire, 565— Breeding and Man- 
agement, 567 — Points of a Good Hog, 573— Treatment During Pregnancy, Abor- 
tion, 576 — Parturition, 578 — Treatment While Suckling, 580 — Treatment of 
Young Pigs, Castration and Spaying, 582 — Spaying, 584— Weaning, 585 — Ring- 
ing, 587 — Feeding and Fattening, 588 — Piggeries, 592 — Diseases and Their Rem- 
edies, 595— Catching the Pig, Drenching, 596— Catarrh. Cholera, 597— Crackings, 
Diarrh(ea,'600 — Fever, 601 — Foul Skin, 602 — Inflammation of the Lungs, 603 — 
.laundice. Leprosy, 604— Lethargy, Mange, 605— Murrain, Measles, 607— Quinsy, 
Staggers, Surfeit, 608— Swelling of the Spleen, 609— Tumors, 610. 

PART 20. 

POULTRY: The Bolton Gray, 611— The Chittugong, 612— The Blue Dun, 613— 
The Cochin China. 614— The Dominique, 616— The Dorking, 617— The Dunghill 
Fowl, The Frizzled Fowl, 620— The Spangled Hamburg, 621— The Plymouth 
Rock, The Poland, 623— The Shanghai, 629— The Spanish, 633- Breeding and 
Management, Breeding, 636— Crossing the Breed, High Breeding, 637 — Pre- 
serving the Distinctive Breeds, 639— Selection of Stock, 644— Feeding, 646 — 
Laying, 653 — Preservation of Eggs, 656— Choice of Eggs for Setting, 659 — In- 
cubation, 661 — Poultry-Houses, 665 — Diseases and Their Remedies, Asthma, 668 
— Costiveness, 669 — Diarrhoea, 670 — Fever, Indigestion, 671— Lice, 072— Loss of 
Feathers, 673— Pip, 674— Roup, 675. 

PART 21. 

THE NURSERY AND^SICK ROOM: To Preserve Health and Save Doctor's 
Bills, 678 — Study and Relaxation, The Sick Room, 679 — Cookery for Invalids, 
Table of Foods and Tnne_;of Digestion, 081— Scarlet Fever, 683— Diptheria, 689 

Measles, 697 — Diarrha;a, 700— Whooping Cough, 703— Sunstroke, 704 — Sprains, 

707— bruises, 708— Burns and Scalds,^709— Toothache, 711— Teas and Other 
Refreshing Drinks, 712— Simple Remedies for the Sick, 713 — Doses and Their 
Graduation, 719. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7 

PART 22. 

PENMANSHIP; The History of its Rise and Progress, 723— How to Learn to 
"Write, 727— Position, Kests and Movements, 730— Elements and Principles, 739 
—The Capital Letters, General Rules, 740— Classification of Letters, Classes of 
Small Letters, Characteristics, 746— Of Capitals, Occurrences of Principles, 747 
— Combination of Letters, 748. 

PART 23. • 

BOOK-KEEPING, 753— Day Book, 770— The Ledger, 773— Book-Keeping by 
Double Entry, 776— Journal, 780— The Ledger, 782— Tlie Letter Writer, 795— 
Punctuation, 796— Capital Letters, 797— Style, 799— Replies, 800— Letters of 
Introduction, 801— Introducing One Lady to Another, Introducing a YoOng 
Lady Seeking Employment, 802— Introducing a Gentleman Seeking a Position 
in a Counting-House, Introducing a Sister to a Schoolmate, 803 — Introducing a 
Young Married Lady to a Friend in Her New Home, Introducing a Daughter 
About to Make a Visit, 804 — Introducing a Gentleman to a Lady Friend, Letters 
on Business, Ordering a Supply of Goods for a Store in the Country, 805— Reply, 
Letter Offering the MS. of a Book to a Publi.'iher, 806— Reply, Letter Proposing 
to Sell Goods on Commission, Reply, 807 — Requesting the Settlement of an 
Account, Requesting Payment of Rent, 808— From a Lady in the Country 
Ordering Goods, From a Farmer in Ireland Proposing to Emigrate, 809 — Reply, 
To the Father of a ^oung Lady Asking Her Hand in Marriage, 810 — Favorable, 
811 — Unforable, A Gentleman After Meeting a I^ady at a Party Asking Permis- 
sion to Pay his Addresses, 812 — To a Widow from a Widower, 813 — A Gentle- 
man Asking his Betrothed to Name the Day, A Young Man in Colorado to His 
Brother in New York, 814 — Complaints of a Lady's Coolness, 815 — Explaining 
an Apparent Slight, On Receiving a Favorable Reply to a Proposal, 816 — Com- 
plaining of Not Receiving a Letter, On a Birthday, 817 — A Complaint, Congrat- 
ulating a Friend on His Marriage, 818 — Congratulating a Gentlemam upon His 
Marriage, Congratulating a Lady upon Her Marriage, 819 — Seeking a Clerkship, 
820 — Application for Subscription to a Charity, Declining, 821 — Application for 
a Loan, 822 — Declining to Lend Money, 823 — To a Firm with an Installment, 
824 — Letters of Condolence, On the Death of Husband and Wife, 825 — On the 
Death of Son or Mother, 826 — Replies to Advertisements, Book-Keeper, 827 — 
General Employment, 828 — Asking Permission to Refer to a Person, 829 — Clerk, 
Cook, 830 — Lines Accompanying a Gift, 831 — European Etiquette in Addressing 
Letters, 832 — Various Forms of Invitations, 835. 

PART 24. 

DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY: Philosophy of Etiquette, Etiquette for Ladies, 
Introductions, 841 — Letters on Introduction, 844 — Visiting Cards, 846 — Conver- 
sation, 848 — Dress, 850 — Morning and Evening Parties, 854 — The Dinner Party, 
858 — Staying at a Friend's House, 865 — General Hints, 866 — Etiquette for Gen- 
tlemen, Introductions, 868 — Letters of Introduction, 870 — Visiting, 871 — Con- 
versation, 872 — The Promenade, 875 — Dress, 876 — Morning and Evening Parties, 
878— The Dinner Table, 881— Party and Ball-Ruoni Etiquette, How to Organize 



O TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

a Dancing Party or Ball, 889 — Bali-Room Toilet for Ladies, 892 — Bail-Room 
Toilet for Gentlemen, Etiquette of the Ball-Room, 893 — Glossary, 896 — Etiquette 
of Riding and Driving, 899 — Etiquette of Driving, 903 — Etiquette of the Street, 
905— Etiquette of Traveling, 907— Suggestions to Travelers, 908— The Hotel, 
911— Home Etiquette, The Lady's Toilrt, 913— The Teeth, 914— The Breath, The 
Nails, The Hair, 915 — The Complexion, Dress, 916 — General Suggestions on 
Dress, 919 — Etiquette of Courtship and Matrimony, First Step in Courtship, 921 
— Etiquette of Courtship, 926— What the Lady Should Observe During Court- 
ship, 927 — What the Gentleman Should Observe During Courtship, 928 — Con- 
duct of the Gentleman when His Addresses are Rejected, 931 — Refusal by the 
Lady's Parents, 932 — Conduct of the Engaged Couple, 933 — Conduct of the 
Lady Duriug Her Betrothal, 934 — Conduct of the Gentleman Towards the 
Family of His Betrothed, Conduct of the Lady on Retiring from Her Engage- 
ment, 935 — Conduct of the Gentleman on Retiring from His Engagement, 936 — 
Correspondence, Demeanor of the Suitor During Courtship, 937 — Should a 
Courtship be Short or Long? 938 — Preliminary Etiquette of a Wedding, 940 — 
Practical Advice to a Newly-Married Couple, 949 — Golden Rules of Etiquette, 
953 — Things to Avoid, 954 — Special Rules of Etiquette, 956 — George Washing- 
ton's One Hundred Rules of Life Government, 959. 

PART 25. 

THE RULES OF DEBATE: Public Meetings, A Democratic Meeting, 965— 
Organizing Associations, 969 — Public Celebrations, 970 — Conventions, 972 — 
Forms of Constitutions, 973 — Lycums or Institutes, 974 — Duties of Officers, 
The Presiding Officer, 976— The Recording Officer, The Treasurer, The Libra- 
rian, 977— Committees, 978— By-Laws, Official Forms, 979 — Rules of Order, 
Quorum, 986 — Call, Minutes, 987 — Committees, 989 — Motions, 993— Amend- 
ments, 994 — Privileged Questions, 996 — Previous Question, 998 — Questions, 999 
— Reconsideration, 1000 — Appeals, Papers, 1001 — Things on the Table, 1002 — 
Resolutions, Rights of Members, Decorum, 1003 — Adjournments, Suspension of 
Rules, 1007 — Tie Vote, 1008 — Resolutions, 1010— Recapitulation, 1013 — Questions 
for Debate, 1019. 

PART 26. 

READY RECKONER, 1022— Practical Calculations, 1035— Pension Laws, 1044— 
The World's Progress, 1048. 

PART 27. 

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY; The Kitchen, 1069- Fuel, 1070— Regulating Fires, 
Use of Coal in the Sick Room, 1071 — Economy in Coal, Care of Stoves, 1072 — 
Uses of Waste Paper, 1073 — Cleaning Soiled Marble, 1074 — Grease Spots on 
Wood, Verminous Insects, 1075 — Ants and Flies, Expelling Plies from Rooms, 
1076 — Cloth and Fur Moths, 1077 — Book-Destroying Insects, 1078 — Kerosene, 
1079 — Test for Kerosene, The Laundry, 1080 — Various Hints on Washing 
Different Articles, 1081 to 1085 — Removing Iron Rust, 1085 — Soap and Candle 
Making, 1086 to 1088— To Clean Silver, 1088— To Paper Walls, 1089— Sweeping, 
1090 — Kalsomining, 1091 — Painting, Receipt for Inside Paint. 1092 — The 
Carpets, 1093 — Doctoring Furniture, 1094 — Household Hints, 1095— Toilet 
Receipts, 1099— Inks, 1102— Glue, 1104— The Dyer's Art, 1105. 



THE PRAGTIGAL HOME FARMER, 



^>{ 



Tbg BemG.j^ 



'Mid pleasures and palaces, 
Tho' I may roam, 
Be it ever so humble. 
There's no place like home. 

— John Howard Payne. 

Vrf HERE is no sweeter word than home! Around the 
V^ fireside cluster all that makes life beautiful — Love, 
Trust. Charity, Truth and Beauty. There husband and 




I I \ FA,KMrR lHRirT\ 



wife prove the loveliness of unselfish union. There the 
youth gains aspiration and the training for a noble life. 
There the maiden learns the sweetness of unsullied purity 



and eentle deeds. 



lO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Much lies upon the man before he can be worthy of a 
happy home, much upon the woman. Some examples teach 
by warning, as others by furnishing models for imitation. 
Let us take a common case. A girl marries. She has been 
reared by an unwise, though fond mother, whose slavish 
devotion to her children has made her an unlovely house- 
hold drudge. She has been brought up to be that wretched 
thing, a gaudy slattern; she is unkempt at breakfast and 
elsewhere at home, but gay beyond the household means 
for others; is ashamed of, and discontented with, her sur- 
roundings. City life to such an one is a cheerless, if not 
fatal, thing. After her marriage, the young couple live with 
her parents, and what the wretched home-education has 
taught grows into life-habit. Or, perhaps, they board in 
some house where idleness and gossip grow like noxious 
weeds, choking the possibilities of good. There is no whole- 
some work of head or hand; a wretched, life of complaint 
ensues; the girl becomes the mother of children she is all 
unfit to rear; a querulous, discontented wife, doing nothing 
— often unable to see anything to do — to aid in building a 
Home. In the end, when her husband has won a house of 
his own, this woman drifts into a likeness of her mother. 
She is shrill-voiced, careless of raiment, old before her time, 
with no sign of the fair, calm matronly beauty, that second 
blossoming after seed-time, which should come to replace 
the young charm — the Indian summer, almost as fair as 
wakening spring-time. Her very love for her children 
works their hurt because their is no guidance. 

The man is as often to blame, seeming to live for busi- 
ness alone, or, vastly worse, only for boon companions. It 
is true that the wife, if she be one of those exceptional 
beings who can answer harsh words or the more bitter neg- 
lect with a smile, who will make home sweet even when her 
own life is as ashes within her lips, will, in the end, win any 
man to home and duty. Of such women there are a few — 
martyrs as worthy of our highest homage as any that ever 



THE HOME. II 

perished at the stake. But such a husband has no right to 
expect his wife to prove one of them. God's law is that 
" whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. " .The 
enforcement of this law is nearly always as speedy and 
obvious as it is ultimately certain. The man sows indiffer- 
ence, neglect, unfaithfulness, and he reaps bitter recrimina- 
tions, domestic broils and jealousies, a full and hideous crop. 

In country life, the way is more smooth for both, though 
far from easy. The life of a farm is hard, especially so for 
the woman, but there is work for willing hands to do. 
There is the home to be made a haven of rest and sweet 
content. The wife should never forget her high ideal of 
home life, and that she must be the center of its beauty. 
Though they have but a log hut amid the wilderness, she 
may make that wilderness blossom as the rose. She may 
have small share of beauty, yet she may still be exceeding 
fair in her husband's eyes. Let them both remember it is 
not the harsh word that heals the breach. 

When the children come, let there be order, but remem- 
ber children are not machines. Train them as you would a 
vine by daily, hourly care and thought; by example, not by 
hard rules. A child needs play, air, sunlight, and, above all, 
love and sympathy. He needs a gentle mother-breast 
wherein to pour the little griefs which, though quickly flown, 
are at the moment all as poignant as the weightier woes of 
later years. Teach by love, leach by example. Be chary 
of stern precepts for which the child can see no reason but 
your arbitrary will. If you would have your child respect 
you — to say nothing of his love — never punish him in a 
spirit of anger. Never make him a promise without per- 
forming it. Remember, there are nearly always other and 
better modes of punishment than beating him. Remove 
some present, or deny some expected pleasure, instead. 
Let him, if the fault be grave, feel your grave displeasure. 
Never scold. Govern firmly, but don't govern too much. 
Threaten seldom — never idly. The parent who tells a 



12 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

child, " If you do so-and-so, I will do so-and-so with you," 
and then weakly forgets both the broken command and the 
assigned penalty for it, merits and receives the child's con- 
tempt. In all things, remember the tremendous force of 
parental example. Long before he learns his letters, your 
toddling one has read your daily life through and through. 
He molds his little life by the pattern you present him. 
For your child's sake, no less than your own, see to it, then, 
that your life is upright, true and pure. Oh, the tender 
grace and sweetness of the home where love and duty reign 
supreme; where the husband and father may cast off his load 
of daily care; where the wife and mother, grown lovelier 
by her self-restraint and thought for others, shines beside 
the hearth the dearest and the sacredest of all created things. 
In many a home, even in these degenerate days, may such 
a wife and mother be found: 

A woman, not too pure and good 

For human nature's daily food, 

For wholesome pleasures, simple wiles. 

Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles. 

From the day, when a bride, she has entered the house 
whereirt the Home lies as does the sculptor's dream of genius 
within the marble block, needing the patient, loving toil to 
bring forth its lines of beauty; through days or years of sor- 
row or of sunshine; with many a rebellious thought, fancy 
or longing to be trodden down in the path of duty; amid 
griefs and heart-aches not merely to be endured, but to be 
made stepping-stones to a yet higher and nobler life. 
Through child-birth pain and weary illness — still guided by 
the light of Love and Truth — the true woman moves on, 
blessinar all who come within her influence. " Her children 
rise up and call her blessed." 

Woe to the man who shall mar the happiness of the 
home life. And how many a farmer unthinkingly does this! 
He amuses himself; he goes to town to buy and sell; he 



THE HOME. 13 

hires labor when there is much to do, but he habitually 
neglects his fellow-toiler and helpmeet in the house. At the 
busy season the work heaped upon the "women folks" 
almost crushes the life out of them. All this is to his own 
future infinite loss. The life of too many farmers' wives is 
what no man could bear, and no woman should be made to 
suffer. It would be a standing shame to the men of America 
— a disgrace to our nation — if anywhere the women should 
become slaves without even the slave's holidays, as brutally 
sacrificed to the chase for the almighty dollar as ever victim 
draeeed before the throne of Moloch. As a child needs 

00 

play, so men and women need some form of innocent 
pleasure. If "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," 
so from Jill it either crushes all her brightness and beauty, 
or else almost forces her to rebel against social and domestic 
law, in search of a less intolerable lot. Work the wife of a 
farmer must, but he should make the burden as light as 
possible. 

Does any reader recognize this picture of the overworked 
wife, drawn by Ella Wheeler, one of the most sympathetic 
poets of the West? If so, let him have a care, lest he, too, 
become such a tyrant to such a slave: 

" Up with the birds in the early morning — 

The dew-drop glows like a precious gem; 
Beautiful tints in the skies are dawning, 

But she's never a moment to look at them. 
The men are wanting their breakfast early, 

She must not linger, she must not wait; 
For words that are sharp and looks that are surly, 

Are what the men give when the meals are late. 

" Oh, glorious colors that clouds are turning, 
If she would but look over hills and trees; 

But here are the dishes, and here is the churning — 
Those things must always yield to these. 

The world is filled with the wine of beauty, 
If she could but pause and drink it in; 



14 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

But pleasure, she says, must wait for duty — 
Neglected work is committed sin. 

" The day grows hot, and her hands grow weary; 

Oh, for an hour to cool her head. 
Out with the birds and winds so cheery! 

So she must rise in the morning and make her bread. 
The busy men in the hay-field working, 

If they saw her sitting with idle hands. 
Would think her lazy, and call it shirking. 

And she never could make them understand. 

" They do not know that the heart within her 

Hungers for beauty and things sublime; 
They only know that they want their dinner, 

Plenty of it, and just ' on time.' 
And after the sweeping, and c'lurning, and baking, 

And dinner dishes are all put by. 
She sits and sews, though her head is aching. 

Till time for supper and ' chores ' draws nigh. 

" Her boys at school must look like others, 

She says, as she patches their frocks and hose, 
For the world is quick to censure mothers 

For the least neglect of their children's clothes. 
Her husband comes from the field of labor; 

He gives no praise to his weary wife; 
She's done no more than has her neighbor, 

'Tis the lot of all in country life. 

" But after the strife and weary tussle 

With life is done, and she lies at rest, 
The nation's brain, and heart, and muscle — 

Her sons and daughters — shall call her blest; 
And I think the sweetest joy of Heaven, 

The rarest bliss of eternal life, 
And the fairest crown of all will be given 

Unto the wayworn farmer's wife." 



THE HOME. 15 



Sons and Daughters on the Tarm. 



It is not necessary that the boy reared in the country 
should be a farmer. Farmers' sons often become leaders in 
trade, commerce, the arts, science, politics, or letters. In 
fact, it is from the country that the vigor of the city is 
constantly recruited. Hence the necessity of educating 
every boy to fit him, not for some single groove in life, but 
to occupy any plane his talents and industry may enable him 
to reach. But does he choose the farm? There is here as 
high an ideal — as great a Jield for action as anywhere in the 
wide world. 

Nor are the daughters of the household, because they 
are the children of farmers, all, of necessity, to become 
farmers' wives. It may be happy for them if they do, for 
there is no condition in life where more true enjoyment may 
be had than in the tillage of the soil, in the rearing of stock, 
a well-kept garden, an orchard dropping luscious and 
healthful fruits, a comfortable dwelling, and well-kept 
grounds. These, every industrious family may have, how- 
ever few the acres. 

We can no more control the affections of the daugfhters 
than the talents of the sons. But much may be accomplished 
by so directing education that these talents and affections 
may be carried in natural channels. The boy who is the 
mere drudge of the farm, and the girl that of the kitchen, 
will always be looking afar for that happiness denied them 
at home. It is the instinct of all young animals to play. 
By both his physical and mental constitution, the child 
requires exercise, to prornote growth, harden the bones, 
strengthen the muscles and sinews, and recreate the brain. 
This must be found outside the daily routine of labor, 
whether it be of the farm, the workshop or the school. In 
directing these matters, nature must be counseled and co- 
operated with. She cannot be rudely overridden and dis- 



1 6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

regarded, without exacting a heavy penahy in a stunted 
and misshapen life. i 

Adorning the Home. 



Wherever the home may be, whether in city or country, 
it is little things that make up the household comforts. In 
cities little can be done, except to keep the surroundings, 
small though they may be, neat and tidy. The small yard, 
if any, may have a little green grass and a few plants; the 
windows, in any event, should have a few pots of choice 
flowers. In the ordinary city home, great display should not 
be thought of. A single plant well grown is better than a 
window crowded full of ill-looking and untidy starvelings. 
The village home presents greater capabilities. A few hand- 
some trees for shade, a smooth, green lawn, with here and 
there a bed of flowers, running roses trained to the veranda, 
a clinging vine over the porch, and a path winding grace- 
fully with gentle curves to the door, will speak eloquently of 
taste and contentment in the owner. It will be a suggestion 
of happy, smiling children, a careful father, a fond and earn- 
est mother. Inside you are sure to find neatness, order, 
and reliance one on another. The walls will not be bare of 
pictures, nor the windows of flowers, nor will there be want- 
ing those little elegancies of feminine work that tell of taste 
and refinement in every department of the household. There 
may not be wealth, but there will be something better ^ — 
comfort. The husband may be at work all day in his shop, 
the wife perhaps working at home, but it will be cheerful 
labor. 




Gemmen Sense FRRminG. 



study Your Farm. 



V I jHE best farmers are-those who study the capabihties of 
f^ their farms, with a view to the selection of the most 
remunerative crops. The first question to be decided in 
setthng in new regions distant from markets, is. What crops 
will bear the farthest carriage without consuming their value? 
These are wheat, flax, and grass-seeds. And these crops, 
on new lands, are raised with the least outlay of labor. 
This sort of cultivation is, of course, ruinous to the land, 
and, if long persisted in, will certainly end in so reducing 
the fertility of the soil that even other crops cannot be 
profitably raised. The soil must not only possess all the 
elementary substances necessary to the production of a crop, 
but it must, to yield the greatest return, have all these ele- 
ments in excess of the requirements. And if only one of 
these elements is lacking or deficient, the crop is subject to 
such changes as not only to cease to be profitable, but often 
to become impossible to be grown. 

Rotation and Crops. 

In Europe especially, and in the older portions of the 
United States in a more limited degree, an elaborate rota- 
tion, with liberal application of manures, is found necessary 
to bring back the soil to a state of full fertility and keep it 
so. In the West, and in some portions of the South, a 
more simple rotation, with or without manure, is practiced. 
In newly- settled districts little attention is paid to rotation, 
and less to manuring, except by the more sagacious 

settlers. The farmers raise wheat and flax until the soil 

17 2 



i8 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



begins to show signs of exhaustion, and then alternate 
with corn, or else seed down the land for mowing and 
pasture, making corn the principal grain-crop, and thus 
naturally gliding into stock husbandry, in the place of 
grain husbandry. The better-informed acquire stock as 
quickly as possible, and before their soil refuses to raise 
wheat and flax. Those who do this early, make the most 
money; for thus all but a small portion of that taken from 
the soil may be returned to it. The soil simply loses the 
phosphates of the bones and the nitrogen of the flesh of 
the animals sold. 

A Simple Rotation. 



The rotation in mixed farming is of the simplest kind. 
One-quarter of the farm in small grain, three-eighths in corn, 
and three-eighths in pasture and meadow, is a natural rota- 
tion. It is evident here that one-quarter of the pasture must 
be broken every year. It would be inconvenient, but let us 
see how this may be accomplished by dividing the farm into 
six fields. Take one hundred and sixty acres: A section of 
each field is shown below; the figures at the top show the 
fields: 





I 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


First Year 


Corn 

Wheat... 


Wheat . . . 
Corn 


Corn . . . 
Wheat... 


Wheat... 
Corn .... 


Grass .... 
Grass .... 


Grass 


Second Year 


Grass 


Third Year 


Grass. . . . 


Wheat... 


Corn 


Wheat... 


Corn 


Grass 


Fourth Year 


Grass. . . . 


Corn .... 


Wheat . . . 


Corn . . . 


Wheat... 


Grass 


Fifth Year 


Grass. . . . 


Grass. . . . 


Corn .... 


Wheat . . . 


Corn .... 


Wheat . . . 



This rotation will give a cleaning crop of corn the year 
before every seeding of wheat or grass, and every third year 
one field of grass is to be plowed. This may be called a 



COMMON SENSE FARMING. IQ 

three-course crop, and it will be seen that it will require a 
long time to bring the fields into their original order again. 
In the third year, field six will be field one, and the entire 
rotation will not be complete so the fields occupy their orig- 
inal place until the twelfth year, a far better plan than the 
usual hap-hazard plan generally adopted. 



Effect of Bad Season. 



Whatever the rotation, whether simple or elaborate, an 
unfavorable season may frustrate the best-laid plans. Winter 
wheat is liable to be destroyed by freezing. Winter and 
spring wheat are both subject to the depredations of the fly 
and other insects, often ruining the crop. We have known 
the corn crop destroyed by rain and flood to such a degree 
in one of the great corn counties in Illinois (Livingston), that 
the feed of the farm teams was not made, and all through 
June, and into July, the land could not be entered on for 
replanting. We have seen whole meadows in Northern Illi- 
nois destroyed by the white grub (larvae of the May beetle), 
which eats the roots of meadow grass below the surface. We 
have seen, we repeat, such meadows, when the turf might 
be rolled up like a carpet. All these, and other contingen- 
cies, will interfere with the regular rotation, and often destroy 
the sequence. In such cases, the meadow must often be 
plowed up and lost entirely as a meadow, and cannot be 
recovered in less than two years. The loss of an annual 
crop, however, need not seriously interfere. The land may 
be fallowed, or some temporary crop put in for that year, or 
a fallow crop may be sown and plowed under. Hence the 
loss is light, and the regular crop of the next season may 
come in its turn. In no rotation can more than the general 
idea be followed. 



20 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Elaborate Rotation. 



In the foregoing, we have given the must simple rotation 
possible, as an example. Few farmers raise so simple a list 
of crops. Oats, barley and flax are generally raised. 
These all come under the same category as wheat. The 
cereal grains farm one year's crop, as a whole, and may be 
divided up to suit; but flax should not follow the cereals, nor 
should one cereal follow another. Sorghum, potatoes, 
roots, and all that class of crops, must have a place in the 
rotation. They should be allotted to the corn land. They 
are cleaning crops. Hungarian grass, millet, and other 
special forage crops, may encroach either upon the small 
grain crops, or corn. Flax, hemp, and other fiber crops are 
exhausting, and must also follow the cleaning or fallow crop. 

No Rigid Rule. — The idea in all this, is not to lay 
down a system of elaborate rotation to be rigidly followed. 
This notion has long since been exploded. Every farmer 
must figure it out for himself, and select his own system 
as best adapted to his particular needs. But to reach the 
best success, a system must be adopted and adhered to, so 
far as possible. It is the want of system that cost money, 
or, what is the same thing, time. It is the knowledge as 
to the crops best adapted to a soil and climate, or the lack 
of that knavvledge, that marks the successful farmer from 
the unsuccessful one. It is not the intention of this work 
to speculate upon what crops pay best, but to point out 
that which shall be of value to every reader to know, in 
the management of the farm. 

Grass-seed and Meadows. 



In the simple rotation already described, there may 
seem too little meadow and pasture. It is one adapted to 
new countries where the corn raised is supplementary to 



COMMON SENSE FARMING. 21 

the grass crop. This brings the feeding resources of the 
farm, in proportion to that of grain raised to sell, as three- 
fourths of the first to one-fourth of the latter. As stock 
increases, the pasturage may be increased. A seed crop 
of grass and clover may be taken the first year, but when 
this is to be done, the grass — timothy, blue-grass, red-top, 
orchard-grass, fowl-meadow, etc., must be sown separate. 
Clover, whatever the variety, must be sown separate, 
until stock can be obtained. Then seed crops may be 
made profitable, since the seed will bear transportation 
long distances, and still yield a profit. The seed crop 
taken, the aftermath may be plowed under, and the straw 
converted into rough fodder and manure. It will always 
pay to seed the grass with any cereal crop, with a view to 
turning it under out of its rotation, and independently of 
the meadow and pasture in their regular rotation. The 
notion is, not only to prevent exhaustion and keep the soil 
rich, but to make it richer. This is the true secret in all 
cultivation. 

An Eastern Man on Rotation. 



A SIMPLE and excellent rotation is given in one of the 
United States Agricultural Reports, as adopted by a gen- 
tleman in Vermont. This was on a one-hundred-acre 
farm, of which twenty acres were woodland. The farm 
had eight lots, of ten acres each. Labor was high, and 
since hay paid well, as much grass was raised as possible. 
In going through these eight fields in eight years, one ten- 
acre field would be in corn or roots; the second year in 
wheat, barley, oats, or some other grain-crop seeded to 
grass; the next two years mowed for hay, and the next 
four years in pasture, and about equally divided for the 
keeping of stock summer and winter, the owner to feed all 
the crops on his farm. By this system of rotation and 
feeding all the produce on the farm, it was estimated he 



22 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



could keep two-thirds more stock than the majority of 
farmers, and the land would be all under cultivation. He 
estimated ten acres in hoed crops, ten acres in grain, and 
the roots at three hundred bushels of potatoes, or one 
thousand bushels of rutabagas or beets per acre, besides 
four or five hundred bushels of grain annually. 



A Southern Planter's Testimony. 



A WIDE-AWAKE Southem planter gave his plan of rota- 
tion, adapted to the cotton region, the farm containing five 
hundred acres of open land under fence, two hundred and 




VVOODLAWN HOME, TEN VEAKh- LATER, [N HANDS OF FARMER SLACK. 

fifty acres being devoted to arable purposes, and the rest 
tx) grazing. The writer held that the rotation might be as 
follows: I, Cotton and corn in the same field in suitable 
proportions. 2, Oats sown in August on the cotton and 
corn land. 3, Rye, or rye and wheat, sown in September, 
the land having been twice plowed in order to kill the 
germinant oats. 4 and 5, Clover, if the land is in sufficient 



COMMON SENSE FARMING. 23 

heart to produce it; if not, the fourth year rest ungrazed, 
and the fifth year sheep and cattle penned upon it every 
night during the year, using a portable fence. An ordinary 
farm of five hundred acres, it was held, would support five 
hundred sheep, besides the crops in the above rotation. 
The oats and rye should feed them during the winter 
nearly or entirely, without injury to the grain. Five hands 
would be sufficient to work such a farm and take care of 
the live-stock. During the first year, the following results 
might be expected from an ordinary farm, without manure: 

25 acres in cotton, 12 bales, at 15 cents, - - $ 900 

25 acres in corn, 250 bushels, at $1, - - 250 

50 acres in oats, 500 bushels, at 80 cents, - - 400 

25 acres in rye, 200 bushels, at $1, - - 200 

25 acres in wheat, 150 bushels, at $1.50, - - 225 

Increase and mutton sales of 500 sheep, - 500 

Wool, 3 pounds per head, at 33 cents per pound, 495 

Manure, at $1 per head, . . . . 500 

$3,470 
The Second Year. — This gives an average of six 
hundred dollars per hand for the first year, fully three 
times the average per hand in the Cotton States then. 
The next year the writer holds that the cotton and corn 
would be more than double by penning five hundred sheep 
at night on fifty acres, and says that ten sheep regularly 
penned will manure well one acre in a year. Five hundred 
would, therefore, manure well fifty acres. He acknowl- 
edges that the appearance of the ground would not indi- 
cate this high manuring; but says it should be remembered 
that the liquid manure, which is equal in value to the solid, 
is not visible. If, in addition, a stock of cattle were kept 
and penned on the same fifty acres, then fertility would be 
increased in proportion. 

The experience of the last few years of those in the South 
who have applied themselves to diversified crops, where 
stock forms a prominent feature, shows that this is not over- 



24 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

drawn, and that the enrichment of worn farms by natural 
means is no more difficult there than in other sections of the 
country. 

Ignorance vs. Intelligence. 



They wno do not beHeve in books, and in improved 
agriculture,— and there are not a few such, — are toiling from 
twelve to fifteen hours a day to scratch a hard-earned pit- 
tance from an unwilling soil, while their better-informed 
neighbors are working less hours, reading more, using im- 
proved seed, implements, and processes, and gaining a 
competence. Not by studying books a quarter of a century 
old, or a hundred years old, not works of theory and dry detail, 
but paragraphs and condensed and illustrated reading, that 
give ideas to be elaborated and made to fit, by each individ- 
ual, his own particular wants. In other words, the applica- 
tion of agricultural truths, new and old, to the every-day 
labors of the farm. 




Ggrgkcs krd tkgir GucTiY)RTien. 



The Cereals Described. 



YryHE cereals are the edible seeds of the grasses, or 
V-^those cultivated for food. In the American usage, the 
cereals include wheat, rye, Indian corn, rice, barley and 
oats. In its broader sense, the word also includes sor- 
ghum, doura corn, some varieties of millet which are used 
as food by oriental nations and tribes, besides the seeds of 
the bene-plant (sesamum), a grain from which oil is ex- 
pressed. The seeds of the bene-plant are eaten by some 
tribes, and were once used to a limited extend for food 
by the negroes in the South. In this work we shall not 
have occasion to notice any of the cereals except wheat, 
Indian corn, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, rice and millet. 
Of these, wheat, rice and Indian corn are the most im- 
portant food-plants of the world. In the United States, 
Indian corn is the most important food-crop, if we take 
into consideration its use for stock; wheat coming second. 
Of the food-crops of the world, as a whole, wheat stands 
first, rice second, Indian corn third, rye fourth; buckwheat, 
oats and barley coming last among civilized nations. 
Oats are coming more into use year by year as a staple 
article of food, in the shape of grits and meal, and are 
among the most nutritious of the cereals. Barley is 
becoming more important every year, being the chief 
ingredient in the manufacture of bear. All the cereals 
produce alcohol, by fermentation and distillation, but 
Indian corn is the great staple, and rye the next, for this 
purpose. For the manufacture of grape-sugar, or glucose 
(a saccharine product about forty per cent of the strength 
of cane sugar), Indian corn has within the last few years 
assumed great importance, and now employs immense 
capital in its production. 



• 



26 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Corn in the United States. 



An idea of the great importance and value of the corn 
crop of the United States is given by the immense crop, 
averaging since 1878 about 1,500,000,000 bushels a year, 
and this notwithstanding the crop failure of 1882. The 
following table, prepared by the Department of Agriculture, 
gives in a compact form all the facts about the corn crop 
of the United States for a period of sixteen years, during 
which time the production increased more than threefold. 
Since 1878 the quantity raised and the percentage exported 
have steadily increased. 



YEARS. 



1863 

1864 

1865 

1866 

1867 

1868 

1869 

1870 

1S71 

1872 

1873 

1874 

187s 

1876 

'877 

1878 

Average of whole 

period 

Average i863-*70. 



15.312.441 
■7.438.752 
18,990,180 
33.3°S.538 
32,520,249 
34.887.246 
37,103.245 
38,646,977 
34.091,137 
35,526,836 
39,197.148 
41.036,918 
44,841,371 
49.o33.3'>4 
50,369,113 
50,585,000 



28,650,703 



Average i87i-'78. 43,210,111 26.6 1,150,341,531 



Yield 

PER 

Acre. 



Bush. 

25-98 

30 

37- 

25 

23 

25 

23' 

28. 
29. 
30. 
33. 



26.7 



Total 
Product. 



Bushels. 

397.839.212 

530,451,403 

704,427,853 

867,946,29s 

768.320,000 

906,527,000 

874,320,000 

1.094,255,000 

991,898,000 

1,092,719,000 

932,274,000 

850,148,500 

1,321,069,000 

1.283,827,000 

1,342,518,000 

1,388,218,750 



959.'74.938 



768,010,845 



Price 

per 

Bushel 



$0.69, 
99 
46. 
68. 

79 
62 
75 
54 
48. 
39 
48 
94 



67.7 



Total Value 
OF Product. 



Total 
Value 

PER 

Acre. 



$278,089,609 
527,718,183 
324,168,698 
591,666,295 
610,948,390 
569,512,460 
658,532,700 
601,839,030 
478,275,900 

435.149.290 
447,183,020 
550.043,080 
555.445.930 
475.491. 210 
480,643,400 
441.153.405 



501,616,287 



42.0 482,923,154 n i; 



$18 16 
30 26 
17 07 

17 21 

18 49 

16 32 

17 74 
15 57 
14 02 

12 24 

11 41 

13 40 

12 38 
9 69 
9 54 
85s 



13 96 



Corn and 

Corn-Meal 

exported in 

the fiscal 

year closing 

June 30, 

following 



|£S 
£0 a 



Bushels. 
5,146,192 
3,610,402 
■4.465.75' 
16,026,947 
■2,493.522 
8,286,665 
2,140,487 
10,676,873 
35.727,010 
40.154.274 
35,988,734 
30.025,036 
50,910,532 
72,652,611 
87,172,110 



Specially noticeable is the rapid increase in the corn 
product west of the Mississippi River and in the Southern 
States. West of the great river, the settlement of new 
lands is rapid, and in the South the notion is constantly 
gaining ground, that it is cheaper to raise corn than to 
buy it. 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



27 



DiflFerent Kinds of Wheat. 



The many varieties of wheat cultivated may be divided 
into two principal classes: hard wheats and soft wheats. 
The hard wheats are natives of warm or semi-tropical cli- 



^0 



WHITE RUSSIAN 



DEFIANCE 



MARTIN AMBER 



mates, and the soft wheats of cold climates. These are true 
wheats — that is, the seeds are not attached to the chaff. 
An inferior variety, but very hardy, is spelt wheat, also a 



28 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

hard wheat, but with the seed adhering to the chaff like 
barley. Another division is into bearded and smooth 
wheat, and still another into red and white wheat. Polish 
wheat resembles rye ; it is a hard wheat. St. Peter's corn, 
or one-grained wheat, is a variety in which the seeds ad- 
here to the chaff, a whitish-seeded, flinty wheat, which 
makes a sweetish bread, and is sparingly raised in some 
portions of Southern Europe. Another variety, Emmeror 
Amel corn, is raised in the Alpine valleys ; it is a vigorous, 
hardy and productive variety, used for bread, for cattle, 
and for making starch. The seeds are broadly furrowed, 
pointed at both ends, the upper end woolly, and the color 
grayish red, and very glassy. 



Proper Wheat Soils. 



The best soils for winter wheat are those that are com- 
pact, and not liable to shrink and swell (heave) in freezing 
and thawing weather — soils rich in phosphates, lime and 
potash. The same soils suit spring wheat, except that 
spring wheat may be raised on soils that do heave some- 
what. Very soft (fluffy) soils containing large amounts of 
humus are not at all adapted to wheat, since all such soils 
are liable to rust, mildew and smut, especially in moist 
seasons. If a soil is wet, it may be improved by under- 
draining. If it is a rich humus, as much of the prairie land 
east of the Mississippi is, it is worth more for other crops 
than for wheat. Well-drained sandy loams are the best 
wheat soils since these lands are compact, and generally 
rich. The best wheat soils of the West and South lie in 
the undulating regions, and on the plains of Minnesota, 
Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and in the valleys of the Rocky 
Mountains and the Pacific slope. 



CEKKALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 29 



Drilling Gives the Best Results. 



The quantity of seed must be determined by the nature 
of the soil and its conditions. As a rule, poor land re- 
quires the most seed, since the plant does not tiller so 
readily. Two bushels is heavy seeding broadcast; one 
and a-half bushels per acre is the usual quantity. If the 
seed is drilled, one-quarter less may be used. Almost 
every one who has carefully noticed results, will admit that 
drilling the seed in gives the best crops. There is no use 
in going into an argument to prove this. Careful scientific 
experiment, as well as the experience of practical farmers 
in every part of the country, shows that drilling effects a 
saving of from ten to thirty per cent, in seed, and gives 
an increase of five to twenty per cent, in the crop gathered. 

Cultivatiiig. — There can be very little cultivation of the 
growing wheat under our system of tillage. We must 
have a much denser population, great division of farms, 
and very much cheaper labor first. A light harrowing in 
the spring if the ground becomes crusted, or a rolling if 
the land heaves, is almost all that can be done. Hence, 
the advantage of clean land and a thorough preparation of 
the soil. No crop that is largely composed of weeds ever 
yet paid the cultivator. 



Time to Seed and Harvest. 

The average time to seed and harvest wheat in differ- 
ent parts of the United States is given in the following 
table. It is compiled by the Department of Agriculture 
from answers from the different States, and also gives the 
average quantity of seed and the best wheat soils for the 
localities named. 



30 



THE PR.\CT1CAL HOME FARME. 







AVERAr.E 


TI.ME OF HAR- 




STATES. 


TI.Mr. IIF SOWING 


BUSHELS OF 


VEST. 


BEST SOIL. 






SEED PER ACRE. 




Maine 


May 15 to June. 


l\i hush 


August 20 to 30. 


Swanl, corn stub- 




ble; high ridges; 










dry pasture. 


New Hampshire. 


April to May 20, 


1)4 to 2 bush. . . 


August I to 20. . 


Clay loam ; new 
upland; diluvial; 
black loam. 


Massachusetts. . . . 


April 10 to 25. . . 


I '4 to 2 bush. . . 


June 25 to Aug. 10 




Vermont 


May 1 to Sept . . 


2 to 2% bush . . . 


Last Aug to Sep i 


Loam clay ; clay 
loam. 


New York 


May 10 to Sept i 


iX '0 2 bush.. . . 


July 2 to Aug. 10 


Sandy loam; clay 
loam; loam mix- 
ed with gravel. 


New Jersey 


.Sep. I to ( >ct. 15 


i'/} to 2 bush. . .. 


June 28 to July 7 


Friable loam;loam 






clay loam;sandy 










loam, rather 










stiff. 


Pennsylvania . . . . 


Sept I to Oct. 15 


iX '0 2 bush.. . . 


June 15 to July 15 


Light sandy; clay 
soil; sandy loam; 
limestone; do. 
clay, mixed with 
gravel ; clay; do; 
clay and gravel. 






I,' to 2 bush. . . . 

I'/i bush 

1 to 2 bush 






.Maryland 

Virginia 


October 

Sep 15 to Nov 30 


Rich loam; clay. 
Clay; do. do. ; clay 


June 15 to July 15 










and lime. 


South Carolina . . 


Oct. and Nov. , . 
Sept. 15 to Nov. 
Sept. to Dec 


50 lbs 


Tune I 


Clay. 




1^ to I bush . . . 
^ to 2 bush .... 




Alabama 


June to July. . . . 


Loam ; oak and 






hickory. 


Tennessee 


Oct. 12 


I to i}i bush 


June 15 


Dark loam; all 
kinds. 


Kentucky 

Ohio 


Sept. and Oct . . . 
Sep. I to Oct. 25 


75 lbs 


July ; 


Clay. 

Oak and maple 
land; clay; do. ; 


I to I V^ bush 


JuneaSto July 20 
















very warm ; lime- 










stone; clay loam; 










yellow clay;clay, 










sandy. 


Indiana 


Sept. to Oct. . 


I to 2 bush 


June 15 to July 20 


Sand and loam; 






clay loam ; clay; 










improved clay ; 










loam do. ; clay; 










sandy loam. 








May to July 1 . .. 


Sandy loam; clay; 
oat or clove; 
















stubble; cloverr 










rich loam. 


Michigan. 


Sept. 3 to Oct. I 


1 ^ to i^ bush. 


June to July 30. 


Marl clay; clay 
and sand; oak; 














clay loam. 




Aug 20 to Sep 15 
Oct. I to Dec. 15 


90 lbs to I '/^ bu . 
^ bush . .'. 


July 5 to 20. . . . 
May I to June 10 




Texas 


Lime soil. 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



31 



Oats and Their Cultivation. 



The value of oats in the agriculture of the United 
States and Canada is enormous. However small the 
farm, oats are an important factor in the 
crop, and for feeding horses are con- 
sidered a necessity in spring and sum- 
mer. This crop really stands next in 
importance after wheat in the cereal 
crops of the country. For feeding young 
animals oats are coming more and more 
into favor every year, on account of their 
bone and muscle making properties. 
They are adapted to nearly all soils not 
really sandy or wet, and the straw is more 
useful on the farm than that of any other 
grain. Taking the year 1879, a fairly 
productive year throughout the country, 
we find the values of the principal crops 
of the United States to be as follows: 

Corn, $580,486,217; wheat, $497,030,- 
142; hay, $330,804,494; cotton, $242, 140,- 
987; oats, $120,533,294; potatoes, $79,- 
153.673; barley, $23,714,444; tobacco, 
$22,727,524; rye, $15. 507/431; and buck- 
wheat, $7,856,191. 




WHITS RUSSIAN OATS. 



Buckwheat. 



The cultivation of buckwheat receives little attention in 
the West, and in the East it is sown principally as a 
secondary crop, where others have failed. It is sometimes 
difficult to eradicate it the second season, since the seeds 
shelled out in harvesting germinate the next season, pro- 



> 32 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ducing a volunteer crop. Sandy soils, and indeed, rather 
poor sands, produce the best buckwheat for flouring. It is 
one of the best fallow crops for turning under green, or 
just at the time of blossoming. 

For a seed crop, the sowing should be so timid, that it 
will be in full seed at the time of the first frosts, since it 
requires cool nights to fruit properly. Sow about the . 
fifteenth to the twentieth of June in the latitude of Maine 
and Minnesota, and later, even to the first of July, in the 
latitude of Philadelphia and Central Illinois. 

Seeding and Harvesting Buckwheat. 

The plant is tropical and killed by the slightest frost. 
It was introduced originally from Persia, and its name 
buckwheat is a corruption of beech-wheat, from the re- 
semblance of its three-concerned seeds to those of the 
beech. The blossoms are eagerly sought by bees, from 
the abundance of honey they contain. 

The seed is sown on fresh-plowed land, at the rate of 
two or three pecks, or if very late, one bushel per acre. 
The seed should be covered lightly (one-half inch). At 
the time of the first frost the crop is cut, laid in gavels, 
and set together, without binding until dry. Then it is 
threshed with the flail, or tranjped out by horses. The 
yield varies according to the seasons from ten to forty 
bushels per acre, and the seed approaches, in price, about 
that of wheat. There are few varieties. The Silver-hull 
is considered the best, but the common buckwheat is 
generally sown. 

The Corn Crop in the United States. 



The United States now raise as the average i,6oo,- 
000,000 bushels of corn yearly, an increase of 100,000,000 
bushels per year, for the present decade, as compared with 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



33 



the last few years of the last decade. The American crop 
is seventy-eight per cent of the Indian corn crop of the 
world, the total production outside 
the United States being only 360,- 
000,000 bushels yearly. And yet 
the general average yield per acre 
in this country is only twenty- 
three bushels per acre, and the 
best average yield in the great 
corn year of 1880, only twenty- 
seven and a half bushels per acre, 
while authenticated yields of one 
hundred bushels per acre could be 
cited on one-hundred-acre fields, 
and special yields of one hundred 
and forty bushels to the acre on 
smaller areas. Whole counties 
have averaged sixty bushels, and 
some States forty bushels per acre 
in particular years. Taking all 
these facts, and remembering that 
no good farmer is satisfiedwith less 
than forty to sixty bushels in or- 
dinary seasons, and it seems cer- 
tain that a majority of farmers 
must be wofully negligent in their 
cultivation and recklessly inatten- 
tive to their best interests. 

Comparing Results. — Let us es- 
timate the loss from ignorance, or 
bad cultivation of the corn crop, as 
shown by the best average of the 
State and the treneral average of 

the country, remembering that the light averages are 
not in hilly, rocky, worn New England, but in countries of 
so-called virgin soil. Take the average annual yield at 




34 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

1,500,000,000 bushels for the country, the general average 
of twenty-six bushels per acre, and the best State average 
of forty bushels per acre. Suppose the general average 
brought up to forty bushels, and the corn crop of the coun- 
try would be increased fifty per cent., making a total of 
2,250,000,000 bushels. At the average price of fifty-two 
cents, this would increase the annual value of the crop by 
over $390,000,000. Would this pay for the better cultiva- 
tion of the crop? Even those who do not believe in 
advanced farming, must admit that it would. 



How to Increase the Average. 



There are only three reasons why the average yield of 
corn is not forty bushels per acre, as the minimum crop. 
In no ordinary season should it go below that, over any 




SELVKK WHI 



large area. The causes which keep down the average are: 
1, want of drainage; 2, want of manure; and 3, bad culti- 
vation. There are also these three causes, which may 
reduce the crop locally: i, destruction by insects; 2, an 
excessively wet season, preventing proper cultivation; and 
3, excessive drought. Untimely frosts can hardly be taken 
into account, since they occur so seldom that drainage, by 
allowing earlier planting and steady growth, would entirely 
throw this out of the calculation, and it would also practi- 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 35 

cally do away with danger of severe loss from wet and dry 
seasons. As it is, through all the great corn region of the 
West, our dry seasons are our best ones. " Drought 
scares the farmer, but water utterly destroys his hopes." 

Therefore, if the land needs drainage, attend to it at 
once. It is the best investment, because it is a permanent 
one. If the soil lacks fertility, improve it by manure, a 
proper rotation, and by plowing under suitable crops. 

The Cultivation of Corn— Plowing. 



It is great mistake to suppose that fall plowing is not 
advantageous in the cultivation of corn. We speak of clay 
loams and clay soils, of course, such as raise our best crops. 
On sandy soils, fall plowing is not necessary, since such 
soils do not require the action of frost to mellow them. It 
is true, the spring plowing should not be omitted, but this 
is always superficial, never more than four inches deep, 
and may be done at the rate of three acres per day to the 
single plow. Besides the better disintegration of the soil, 
by freezing and thawing, when fall-plowed, the soil comes 
into condition earlier in the spring, absorbs warmth quicker, 
and as a rule may be worked much earlier than land not 
fall-plowed. 

Planting the Crop. 



There are four principal things to be remembered in 
planting a field of corn: i. The rows should be perfectly 
straight. 2, The seed must be strong in its germ. 3, The 
planter must drop the seed accurately, and rather closely 
together, rather than widely spread. 4, Whatever the 
number of grains planted, more than four stalks should 
never be allowed to the hill; three is better. 

If your farm is too small to allow you to own a check- 
row planter, hire your planting done by all means. There 



36 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

is no doubt but corn may be planted as well by hand as by 
a machine; but children and hired men will not do it, and, 
at best, it is tedious and costly. Do not plant too close. 
Three feet and a half is close enough between rows for 
the dwarf varieties, three feet eight or ten inches for the 
medium varieties, and four feet is not too much for the 
Mammoth Southern varieties. If you have been careful 
to lay out your first row straight, as in the directions for 
plowing, you may with care keep every other row straight, 
by means of a re-marker attached to the planter and the 
check-rower. Perfectly straight rows should add five 
bushels an acre to the crop, through the better cultivation 
possible thereby. There is no doubt that more corn may 
be raised per acre by accurately drilling so the stalks will 
stand twelve inches apart in the row, but, except in small 
fields, or where the intention is to make a premium crop, 
the extra cost will not allow drill-cultivation to become 
profitable, especially in the great corn regions of the 
United States. 

Harrowing the Young Corn. 



The harrowing is the best cultivation young corn ever 
receives. Of course, the ground must be measurably free 
from trash, and no sensible farmer plants on trashy ground. 
With the present perfection in plows, trash may all be so 
deeply turned under that the harrow will not find it, and 
as the corn gains size, the trash will be so decayed as not 
to interfere seriously with good work. The harrowing 
should be given with a sharp, light harrow, at the first 
indication of weeds, whether the corn is up or not. If the 
corn is just pushing* through the ground, care must be 
taken. The germ is thus easHy broken. Otherwise har- 
row the field without reference to anything, except to de- 
stroy the weeds. If no weeds appear, and the top soil is 
not crusted, the harrowing may be delayed until the rows 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



37 



of corn can be seen. It will often pay to harrow both 
ways, once before the corn is up and once after. After the 
corn is up we have always found it pay to have careful 
hands uncover such as may have been covered with trash 
and lumps. Two rows may be attended to each time, 
going across the field, using a forked stick, or better, one 
crooked at the end. The back of a hoe or rake is also 
useful for this purpose. 



After Cultivation of Corn. 



The hand-hoe finds no place in the cultivation of corn, 
except in very small fields; in those so rocky or stumpy 
that horse implements cannot work to advantage, or in 
fields where the weeds have got the full start of the crop. 




MICHIGAN VELLOW DtiNT CURN. Tit'O-tUirds tiatural sizc. 

In all fields of this kind, the cultivation is attended with 
such disadvantages as often to bring the balance on the 
wrong side ot the ledger. That is, it will be cheaper to 
buy corn than to raise it, unless the special purpose be to 
clean the land for other crops. A roller may be used with 
success in some cases, after the harrow, if the ground is 
very lumpy. We have rolled corn eight inches high, and 
had it rise again all right; but the land should not be 
lumpy, nor need it be if the directions in relation to fall 
plowing have been followed. We repeat, never stir the 
land in the spring or summer unless it will work friably. 



38 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

A Busy Time. — From the time the corn is up four 
inches high the cultivator must be kept moving. In catch- 
ing weather every hour must be improved when the soil is 
in condition. If rainy weather has interfered with cultiva- 
tion, and weeds begin to show unduly, pay no attention to 
regular hours, work the men from daylight until it is too 
dark for them to see the rows at night, changing teams 
and paying for extra time. This kind of work often saves 
a crop, for if once the weeds get a full start, it is difficult to 
overcome them. Remember always: the time to kill weeds 
is while they are young. 

Clean Crops. — No man ever raised a good crop who 
waited for the weeds to grow before cultivating his land. 
The primary object of cultivation is to keep the soil in such 
condition that it will admit air properly through its pores. 
Killing weeds is only a secondary consideration. A weedy 
crop never pays its cost. A rich soil always grows weeds. 
They are easy to kill when young; when their roots get 
strong, it is difficult. The Chinese, who have cultivated 
the same soil for over four thousand years, have a saying 
that, " a clean crop is always good." Their fields are kept 
as clean as a garden. 

How Often to Cultivate. 



The cultivator should be kept going until the crop is 
so large that the stalks cannot be pressed under the arch 
of the implement. Whenever the surface is crusted from 
rain, moving the soil will be beneficial. Two harrowings 
and two to three plowings are what the average crop 
should get. The operation should be guided by the farm- 
er's own observation of the necessities of the case. Wet, 
rainy weather interferes with cultivation, and the farmer 
who calculates on the basis of fifty acres to the hand, will, 
in bad seasons, not be able to do full justice to the crop; 
while in dry seasons sixty-five acres to the hand may be 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 39 

well plowed. Why? Because the team can work every 
day, and an average of eight acres a day will get over this 
area once in about eight working days. A field ought to 
be plowed over once every ten working days. 

Depth of Cultivation. 



There is a diversity of opinion as to the proper depth 
of cultivation. Our experience is that the cultivation 
should be to the depth of about three inches while the corn 
is young, but after it has made good root, the cultivation 
should be superficial. By the time the corn is knee-high. 




MAMMOTH \KLLOW DENT. 



the soil becomes pretty well filled with roots. In moist 
weather, if the roots are torn, they will quickly recuper- 
ate; if they are torn in dry weather, a decided injury en- 
sues. After the corn begins to shoot, that is, to joint, and 
prepare for blossoming, cutting the roots is a decided in- 
jury. After this time the cultivation, if any be necessary, 
should be simply surface stirring, not more than than an 
inch and a half deep. Roots do not penetrate the soil 
by forcing their way through solid earth; that is impos- 
sible. They find their way between the minute interstices 



t 



40 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

which are always present, however compact the soil. If 
the surface is kept mellow, the sub-surface never becomes 
so compact but the pores are amply sufficient for the roots. 
Corn is a fast-growing crop under heat and moisture. It 
is a crop that must have mellow soil to give the best re- 
sults. Other crops, such as wheat, onions, etc., require 
compact — not hard — sub-surface. Deep cultivation is 
not required for what are known as hard or compact soil 
crops. It is decidedly injurious to the soft-soil crops after 
the ground becomes filled with roots. A safe rule for corn 
is to give deep and clean cultivation while the crop is 
young; deep cultivation in the middle of the rows, while 
the corn is eighteen inches to two feet high. After that 
the cultivation should be shallow — simply sufficient to 
keep the surface fine and mellow. When the corn fully 
shades the soil, the earth will no longer be beaten down 
by the rain. It will not be liable to crust, nor will it be- 
come impacted or lose much moisture by evaporation at 
the surface. The roots will arrest all this. 



Harvesting the Crop. 

There are two ways of securing the crop of corn — by 
husking on the hill, and by cutting and shocking, and 
husking from the shock. There are only three conditions 
under which corn should be husked and shocked: i, 
when the fodder will pay for trhe extra cost of cutting and 
shocking, and the extra cost of husking from the shock; 2, 
Avhen the corn is to be fed to cattle directly from the shock; 
3, when from danger of early frosts, it becomes necessary 
to shock the corn to assist it in ripening. 

It costs about as much to cut and shock an acre of 
corn as to husk an acre on the hill, or when the corn stands 
in the field as it grew. It takes twice as long to husk an 
acre of corn from the shock, and tie up and re-shock the 
corn, as it does to. husk it standing in the field, 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 41 

In husking from the hill — a team should be allowed to 
every two men. The wagon should be provided with one 
wide extra side-board, with cleats on each side, so they 
will slip down easily over the ordinary side-board. This 
is to prevent the corn from flying over when thrown into 
the wagon. The wagon should always be to the right of 
the buskers if possible, and two or four rows may be 
husked at a time. A short board, ten inches wide, should 
slant into the rear of the wagon, for ease in shoveling out 
the corn. When the wagon is filled and goes to the crib, 
the remaining hand husks and throws the corn in piles on 
the ground, to be picked up on returning. By this means, 
if the corn is dry, about one acre may be husked a day by 




MICHIGAN YELLOW DENT 



each good hand. We have known one man thus to husk 
seventy-five bushels in a day, and it is said that one hundred 
bushels have been husked in a day by one man. It is 
certain that a man will husk an acre of heavy, sound, dry, 
standing corn, easier than an acre of soft and inferior corn, 
even when the yield in the first case is double what it is in 
the latter. 



42 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Seed Corn. 



Seed corn that will germinate surely is indispensable. 
Have you carefully selected at husking-time, or before, 
the soundest and must perfect ears, and attended to their 
careful curing? If not, lose no time early in the spring in 
selecting the best you have, again carefully sorting this 
over. From that you think is pretty sure to grow, shell a 
small quantity from a number of ears selected as they run, 
mix all well togethef, count out fifty grains, place them 
between folds of flannel cloth, kept constantly moist and at 
a temperature of fifty-five to sixty degrees, not more. 
Corn does not germinate at a temperature much below 
fifty degrees. Note the time it takes to sprout. If it 
does so in seven or eight days, it is good. Ascertain 
the number of grains that come up promptly, and you 
can decide how much to drop in a hill. If your corn 
proves bad, buy good seed, whatever may be the cost. 
You cannot afford to risk uncertain seed. There are 
contingencies enough, even with the best seed. Never 
neglect carefully to select and save seed corn in the 
autumn. 

Cost of a Corn Crop. 

There is no crop that varies more in its cost than corn. 
Manure, rough land, hand-hoeing and small fields are ex- 
pensive. In the great corn region of the West the cost 
is reduced to a minimum. Some years ago, while engaged 
extensively in general farming and stock-feeding in Central 
Illinois, every crop was itemized and correctly kept. Act- 
ual figures on a crop of corn from 1,225 acres were as fol- 
lows. It must, however, be remembered that the smaller 
the area the more it costs per acre. Nevertheless, the 
smaller the field the greater the average yield. The field 
yielded a little over thirty-nine bushels an acre, and the 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 43 

tillage was at the rate of sixty-five acres to the man and 
team for cultivating. But the season was an exceptionally 
good one for working. Here are the figures: 

Fall plowing ------$ 6oo oo 

275 bushels seed-corn @ 8oc. - - - 220 00 

50 bushels seed-corn @ $1.50 - - - 75 00 

Manuallabor - . - . . 1,958 13 

Team labor - - - - - - 1,174 25 



$4,027 38 



This brings the corn ready to husk. The husking 
cost: 

1,470 days manual labor - - - - $1,837 50 

735 days team work - - - - - 918 75 



Thus the corn cost in the crib - - $6,^^^ 63 

The crop was 48,225 bushels. That portion not fed on 
the farm brought 42j4c. in the crib, making a total for 
48,225 bushels of $20,495.63. Deduct from this the cost of 
producing the crop, and the balance is $13,691 for the crop, 
or $11.09 P^"" acre for the use of the land. 

The men were all paid at the rate of $1.25 per day, and 
the teams were estimated at the same price for each double 
team. Every individual item was correctly charged, as 
plowing, harrowing, rolling, planting, cultivating, uncover- 
ing corn, etc., and there was even a charge of $13.20 for 
cutting and pulling weeds. Looking at the matter in an- 
other light, it will be seen that the whole expense of making 
the crop ready to husk, for man and team, was, counting 
man and team at $2.50 per day, at the rate of one and one- 
fifth days work per acre, or, in other words, counting the 
value of seed-corn, the cost of raising an acre of corn was 
$3.29 per acre. The cost of husking was $2.25 per acre, 
or, per bushel, nearly six cents; the whole cost of raising 
and cribbing the corn was $5.54 per acre, and the corn cost, 
in the crib, fifteen cents per bushel to raise, not counting 



44 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ground rent. There is no reason why it should ever cost 
more for labor, in any clean, rich soil, free from stumps, 
stones, or other obstructions. 

A well-kept account book is always useful in enabling 
the farmer to tell exactly what any crop has cost, but it is 
a curious fact that hardly one farmer in a dozen keeps a 
record of the debit and credit on a farm. Book-keeping 
takes time, of course, but without it the farmer never 
knows on what crops he is making or losing money. A 
single book, of, say, two hundred pages, with lines ruled 
for dollars and cents on the right, and one line on the left/' 
for the date of each entry, will be sufficient for most prac- 
tical purposes. 

Cultivation of Rice. 



Main canals, having sluices at their mouths, are dug 
from the river to the interior about twenty feet in width; and, 
as they very frequently extend across the whole breadth of 
the swamp, they are more than three miles in length. The 
rice plantations are sub-divided into fields of about twenty 
acres each. The fields have embankments raised around 
them, with sluices communicating with the main canal, that 
they may be laid dry or under water separately, accord- 
ing as it may be required. Open ditches are dug over the 
grounds for the purpose of allowing the water to be more 
easily put on or drawn off. 

In all cases the water is admitted to the fields as soon 
as the seed is sown, and when the young shoot appears 
above ground, the water is drawn off. In the course of a 
week the crop usually receives another watering which 
lasts from ten to thirty days, according to the progress the 
vegetation makes. This watering is chiefly useful in kill- 
ing the land weeds which make their appearance as soon 
as the ground becomes dry. But, on the other hand, 
when the field is under water, aquatic weeds, in their turn, 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



4S 



grow up rapidly, and to check their growth, the field is 
once more laid dry, and the crop is then twice hand-hoed. 




WILD RICE OF THE NORTHWBST. ( ZtZitHta AquatlcU.) 

By the first of July the rice is well advanced, and 
water is again admitted, and allowed to remain on the 
fields until the crop is ripe. This usually takes place from 



46 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the first to the tenth of September, and the water is drawn 
off the day before the crop is to be reaped, or long enough 
to dry the land for this operation. 

Large capital is necessary in the cultivation of rice, as 
well as good judgment, especially on tidal lands. The 
banks must be kept in good order, the drains and canals 
must be kept clear, and the sluices and valves must always 
be in repair. The rice-swamps also are unhealthy, and it 
is difficult to get labor when other work can be had; 
hence, higher prices must be paid. Nevertheless, prop- 
erly managed, the crop is remunerative, and rice planta- 
tions used to be the highest-priced lands in the South — 
the best lands lying between twenty-nine and thirty-five 
degrees north latitude. The best variety is known as 
Golden or Carolina rice. 



Management of Rice-fields. 



Rice plantations are located above the junction of salt 
and fresh water, from the fact that rice, being an aquatic 
plant, requires a vast amount of fresh water during its 
growth; salt water being fatal to it at all stages. These 
swamps are usually reclaimed by means of banks or levees, 
which are made high and strong enough to bar out the river. 
Smaller embankments, called check banks, subdivide that 
portion of the plantation lying between the main river 
embankment and the high land into squares or fields, gener- 
ally from fifteen to twenty acres in area. These squares are 
all subdivided again into beds or lands, of twenty-five or 
thirty feet width, by a system of main ditches and quarter- 
drains. Canals from twelve to thirty feet wide and four or 
five feet deep, are sometimes cut from the river embankment 
through the center of the plantation, to the high land, for 
the purpose of introducing or draining off the water to or 
from those fields situated far back from the river. 



CEREALS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 47 

Flood-gates or trunks, having doors at both ends, are 
buried in the embankments on the river, as well as in the 
canal embankments and the check banks, those at the out- 
let of canals being so constructed as to permit the flat-boats 
to pass into the river. . By means of these flood-gates or 
trunks the whole system of irrigation is carried on under the 
complete control of the planter, and the lands are flooded 
or drained at will. The canals and ditches being all care- 
fully cleaned out, down to the hard bottom, the banks 
neatly trimmed and free of leaks — the flood-gates and 
trunks all water-tiorht, either to hold out or hold in water — 
the planter commences his operations, as early in the winter 
as possible, by plowing. 

These lands, being yearly enriched by alluvial deposits 
from the river, do not require deep plowing, four or five 
inches being generally sufficient to furnish a good seed-bed, 
and on account of the numerous ditches subdividing the 
fields, a single mule plow is always preferable. When lands 
are plowed early in the winter and nicely shingled, it is of 
very great advantage to put in a shallow flow of water, 
and suddenly draw it off, in severe weather, for the benefit 
of freezing the furrow slices. But it is not a good practice 
to flood deep, as the weight of water packs the land, which 
becomes run together by the action of the waves, and ren- 
ders good harrowing afterward an impossibility. 



Some Special Crops. 



Flax, millet, Hungarian grass, and canary-grass are 
largely cultivated in some sections for the seed. The only 
difference in the preparation of the soil from that for the 
cereals is that the greatest care must be taken to bring the 
land into the highest possible tilth for sowing. Flax is 
sown at the rate of three pecks to one and a half bushels 
per acre, just before corn-planting time. Millet, Hunga- 



48 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



rian and canary-seed must not be sown until corn is well 
up and the nights warm, since it is easily checked by cold. 
Millet and Hungarian seed are sown at the rate of one- 
half bushel to three pecks, and canary-seed at the rate of 
three pecks to one bushel per acre. When fully ripe, it 
may be cut and stacked, loose, for threshing, or harvested 
by binding and shocking. 




Mgrdgvv) rhd Prsturg Grrssgs. 



The Value of Grass. 



Y I yHE grass crop of the United States has a greater real 
e-^ value than any other one crop raised. The corn crop 
represents a greater apparent money value, and so does 
the wheat crop, the corn crop for 1881 having a money 
value of $759,482,170, and the wheat crop $456,880,427, 
while the hay crop was estimated at only $415,131,366. 
But the hay harvest is comparatively a small portion of the 
grass crop. In the average, hay is fed to stock in this 
country scarcely four months in the year, even allowing 
for horses and mules in the city eating hay all the year 
round. On the other hand, we see immense grazing areas, 
and millions of live stock which subsist and grow fat 
throughout the whole year on grass, which they gather for 
themselves. Besides, hay does not form more than half 
the food of farm stock during the winter months. On the 
whole, therefore, it is safe to say that the pastures and 
meadows of the country undoubtedly represent four times 
the value of the hay crop. This would make $1,660,525,- 
464 yearly, a sum greater than the combined values of the 
corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley and buckwheat crops by 
$189,568,261, the crops of the cereals named being com- 
puted for 1881 at $1,470,957,200. The cry used to be, 
" Cotton is king." Later it was, " Corn is king." Let us 
not forget that grass is king and always will be. 

The Alphabet of Agriculture. 

A BIG herd makes a bare meadow. 
Bad grass, bad farming; bad farming, bad crops. 
Cultivate grass, and win wealth. 

49 



so THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Dank meadows give dreary dreams. 

Excellent herbage is an excellent heritage. 

Fat pastures make fat pockets. 

Grass is the governor, clover the crown, of agriculture. 

Heavy meadows make happy farmers. 

In the lea Ues a lever of wealth. 

June-grass is a jolly good joke, say the kine. 

Kindly cattle come of good grazing. 

Lean kine are lean milkers. 

Mean grass shows mean farming. 

" Nodding grass" is wealth to the owner. 

Old pastures, say the sheep, if you please. 

Pastures prudently managed get better with age. 

Quick grass, quick profits. 

Rather than stint your meadow, stint your grain. 

Sweet pastures make sound butter; soft hay makes stout wool. 

Tall grass, thickly set, fills big barns. 

Up to my ears in sweet grass, says the steer. 

Vain are the hopes of the farmer if the grass does not win. 

Wealth leaves when the fodder fails. 

Xanthium, the clot bur, never helped the grass. 

Yellow hay never comes to him who is zealous. 

Zeal in the meadow means weal in the wear. 

No grass, no cattle; no cattle, no manure; no manure, 
no crops, is an adage covering the whole ground. It is as 
true to-day as when first spoken, and will continue to be 
so as long as agriculture lasts. 

The Seed Crop. 



Sow as early in the spring as the soil will admit, on 
land prepared and leveled in the best manner, covering 
one-half inch deep. The first flowering is apt to blast, 
hence this is cut for fodder, and the later or summer 
growth is taken for seed. It is generally mown with a 
machine, allowed to dry in the swath, raked into windrows, 
and, when thoroughly dry, either threshed directly with a 
clover huller or else stacked and threshed later. The 



MEADOW AND PASTURE GRASSES. 



51 



yield is all the way from four to eight, or even ten bushels 
an acre. Six bushels is a good yield, and from the high 
price it bears it is a good-paying crop in places remote 
from the great markets. The best seed is raised in the 
West, for there it is not infested with the seeds of Canada 
thistle, and other pestilent weeds. 



Sowing for Hay and for Pasture. 

Information under this head is most clearly presented 
in tabular form. The first table on next page shows the 
weight of seed and depth of germination. Those follow- 
ing give the quantity of seed to be sown of each variety for 
hay, and for hay and pasture as adapted to various soils, 
with the total number of pounds to be sown per acre. 









J= "U s « 




Pouiuls 


Seeds 


S&-.S 


NAME OF PLANT. 


per 


per 


-^ ° £ 




Bushel. 


Ounce. 










4J ^ rz: 

Q rt £ S 


Timothy, clean - - - - 


56 


74,000 


o-y. 


Orchard grass ----- 


12 


40,000 


o-y 


Red-top ------ 


12 


425,000 


o-y 


Meadow foxtail - - - - 


5 


76,300 


o-y 


Tall oat grass ----- 


7 


2 I I ,000 


y-y 


Sweet-scented vernal - - 


6 


7 1 ,000 


o-yi 


Crested dog's-tail - - - 


26 


28,000 


y-y 


Hard fescue ----- 


10 


39,000 


o-y 


Sheep's fescue - - - - 


14 


64,000 


°-y 


Tall fescue ------ 


14 


20,500 


o-y 


Wood meadow grass - - 


IS 


173,000 


0-% 


Kentucky blue-grass - - 


14 


243,000 


o-y 


English blue-grass - - - 


20-28 


1 1 5 ,000 


y-y 


Italian rye-grass - - - - 


.5-18 


27,000 


y-y 


Rough-stalked meadow 


15 


2 1 7 ,000 


o-y 


Red clover ----- 


60 


1 6 ,000 


y-y 


White clover ----- 


60 


32,000 


°-y 


Lucerne ------ 


60 


12,000 


y-y 


Millet ------- 


48 


5,000 


y-y 


Hungarian ------ 


SO 


6,000 


y-y 



52 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



GOOD MEADOW SOILS. 



I — Timothy - - - - 
2 — Red clover (biennial) 
3 — Red clover (perennial) 
4 — Orchard grass - - - 
5 — Meadow fescue 
6 — Meadow foxtail - - 
7 — Blue grass - - - - 
8 — Red-top - - - - 
9 — Rye-grass - - - - 
lO — Fowl meadow - - - 
1 1 — White clover - - - 

Total ------ 




This gives seven varieties for hay, and eleven for hay 
and pasture. 



FOR LANDS SUBJECT TO OCCASIONAL OVERKLOW. 



I — Fowl meadow - - - 
2 — Alsike - - - - - 
3 — Tall fescue - - - - 
4 — Rough-stalked meadow 
5 — Blue-grass - - - - 
6— Red-top ----- 
7 — Timothy - - - - 
8 — Fiorin - - - - - 
6 — Meadow soft grass 
lo — Perennial clover - - 
II — White clover - - - 

Total 




36 



8 


4 


6 


6 


5 


5 


4 


4 


o 


3 


4 


4 


5 


2 


o 


2 


4 


4 


o 


3 


o 


3 



40 



MEADOW AND PASTURE GRASSES. 



53 




Blue-grass ------ 

Red clover ----- 

Sheep's fescue ----- 

Purple fescue ----- 

Orchard grass - ,- 

Tall oat grass ----- 

Hard fescue - - - -* - 

Rough-stalked meadow grass 
Crested dog's-tail - - - 
Red-top ----.- 

Total ------ 



Interchange of Grasses Between Nations. 

Before leaving this subject finally, we wish to say a 
word on the value of the interchange of seeds and plants 
between different countries. The fact that a plant is 
indigenous to a country does not prove that it is useful 
there. Some of the more valuable forage plants of the 
South, such as Alfalfa, Bermuda grass, Guinea grass, 
Japan clover, etc., are introduced species. The same is 
true of the North. It is more than probable that some of 
our western indigenous plains species may prove of value 
in Australia, since that climate, like our far western one, is 
dry and hot in summer. Australia has given to California 
the valuable Eucalypti. Our western grasses stand hot 
sun, and many of them extreme drought, as the Gama and 
other so-called Bunch grasses. The chmate of Australia 
is mild in winter, which our western plains are not, but 
there, and in the hotter southwestern regions, may be 
found grasses that may yet prove of great value there, as 
many foreign varieties have been found valuable here. 



54 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Seeding Meadows. 



The quantity of grass-seed sown per acre by the best 
farmers, and the number of varieties used in seeding mead- 
ows, and especially those that are to be pastured, seems 
to many men to be a great waste. The waste, however, 
comes from seeding on ill-prepared ground. No grass- 
seeds are large, and most of them are very minute. If 

left on the top of the soil, 
they often become so dry 
that they do not germi- 
nate. If sown too deep, 
the germs never reach the 
surface, or only do so to 
die. The aim of every 
man should be to get the 
best return for his outlay. 
It never was yet gotten 
either by stinting seed or 
by slovenly cultivation. 
Rich soil, a fine tilth, and 
plenty of seed will give 
f heavy windrows of hayand 
deep pastures. 

As a rule, from ten to 
twelve pounds of seed are 
enough if the crop is in- 
tended strictly as a seed 
JAPAN CLOVER. cTop. For mowlrtg, ordi- 

nary thick sowing would be about twenty pounds, mixing 
according to varieties sown, say timothy twelve pounds, 
clover eight pounds, or orchard grass seven pounds, timothy 
seven pounds, and clover six pounds. For mowing alone, 
timothy, red-top, orchard grass, meadow foxtail, fowl 
meadow grass, and red clover will be the basis. For mow- 




MEADOW AND PASTURE GRASSES. 



55 



ing and pasture add blue-grass and white (Dutch) clover 
for grazin-g, except for cattle, leave out timothy, but for 
pasture the more varieties the better. 



Clover in Its Relation to Husbandry. 



Clover has a threefold relation to husbandry: as a seed 
crop, as a forage crop, and also for its wonderful power of 
renovating the soil. Its proper soil is a thoroughly drained 
loam or loamv clay. Soils that in drying out crack badly. 





BUFFALO GRASS. (Buckloe.) 



BLUE GRASS. 



or those subject to heaving, are not adapted to clover. 
Argillaceous, granitic, drained calcareous loams, red and 
other well-drained clays are all congenial to its growth, 
and, in fact, nearly all soils, except those quite sandy or 
wet. The first winter it is apt to suffer if seeded in the 
fall, and hence should be sown in the spring. When sown 
alone it usually blossoms the first season; if seeded with 



56 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



wheat, generally not until the next season. If the seed is 
to be taken, it should be sown alone, and for plowing 
under the same rule will apply. As soon as it is well up 
it should have two bushels of land-plaster (gypsum) per 
acre, especially on granitic soils. When sewn for hog- 
pasture, for cutting green, or for turning under, not less 
than sixteen pounds of seed should be given per acre. If 
intended for seed, twelve to sixteen pounds will be suffi- 
cient. For plowing under, the Mammoth Red Clover ( T. 
Pratense var.) is the best. It grows four to six feet high, 
and produces enormously in root and top. Cattle do not 
like it much, but hogs do. 




SeiCin6,FGDDGR KRD ReGTGROPS 



Soiling Compared with Pasturing. 



CT'OILING is the system of cultivating, cutting and feed- 
A^ ing forage green, as distinguished from pasturing in 
the field. It is only practiced in older-settled districts 
where land is comparatively scarce and dear, and manure 
plentiful, labor cheap, and the stock kept principally for 
use on the farm. It prevails in some portions of Europe, 
notably in Holland and Belgium, and in Great Britain. In 
the United States it can hardly be said to prevail, to the 
exclusion of pasturing in any of the farming districts. Its 
advantages are that no food is wasted, all the manure is 
saved, and all the land of the farm is thus enabled to pro- 
duce its maximum of crops. Soiling, however, is coming 
to be regarded as of more and more importance year by 
year, in all those sections of the United States that are 
subject to summer drought, to carry the stock over those 
seasons when pasturage is scant. Another advantage is 
that it gives working cattle a daily portion of green food, 
so essential to their health, without the labor of gathering 
it for themselves. In this view there can be no doubt of 
its economy, since the daily cutting and hauling is com- 
paratively light, and the animals will do more than enough 
additional labor to pay the cost. 

Soiling Indispensable in Dairy Districts. 



In all the great dairy districts soiling is coming to be 
regarded as indispensable, during July and August, in 
order to keep cows up to their full flow of milk, and also to 
enable the dairyman to protect them from torturing flies 



58 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

and mosquitoes; thus they may be pastured in the early 
morning and in the evening, giving needed exercise, and 
kept under shelter during the heat of the day and at night. 
The question of profit and loss must be decided by every 
one for himself 

When pastures are flush it would be folly to cut and 
cart fodder, but instances are rare where the same quantity 
of stock can be kept full-fed during the heat of summer 
as in the spring and autumn. This can only be done where 
irrigation is practiced. So far as fattening stock is con- 
cerned, corn is the cheapest feed, undoubtedly, in the corn 
zone of the United States. Corn, or better, meal may form 
a portion of the daily feed of milch cows, but they must 
have succulent feed and an abundance of it, in order to 
keep them to their full flow of milk. Hence, some system 
of partial soiling should be adopted by every farmer who 
keeps milch cows, an important part of his regular farm 
economy. 

Soiling as Against Fencing. 



Where only enough cows are kept to furnish the family 
with milk, as in many districts where the " no-fence law" is 
in operation, and where stock is herded in summer, there 
is no doubt of the economy of soiling. The cost of fencing 
the farm into fields, in order that the pastures may enter 
into the regular rotation, is saved; in fact, the interest on 
this outlay would many times pay the cost of cutting and 
carrying the fodder for the few animals fed. 

On a farm in Central Illinois, requiring the labor of 
sixty-five horses to work it, and where five cows were kept 
for milk and butter, all were fed green food in addition to 
their daily rations of grain during the summer. Two men 
and a team cleaned the stables, hauled away the manure, 
cut the grass and fed it, and took the entire care of the 
cows, besides doing various chores. The horses got about 



SOILING, FODDER AND ROOT CROPS. 59 

forty pounds of grass a day, what hay they would eat (very 
little), and the cows were fully fed on grass. The labor 
of not more than one man was required simply to cut and 
haul the fodder. This was sown: rye, clover, common 
meadow-grass, and later, sown corn-fodder. The cutting 
began when the crop was twelve to fourteen inches high, 
except the corn, which was allowed to grow two feet high, 
and all was cut with a mowing machine, and raked and 
loaded by hand. 

How to Raise a Soiling Crop. 



Any land for a soiling crop to be cut green should be as 
rich as possible. The more luxuriant the growth, the 
better the swath, thus making a great saving in the labor 
of cutting and gathering. It will not do to depend on one 
variety for stock, for they soon tire of a single diet. A 
patch of Red clover — in the South alfalfa — one of orchard- 
grass, one of rye-grass, and one of rye may be provided. 
These will make your first cuttings, and if the ground is 
heavily manured, and there is plenty of moisture, these may 
be cut over once in four or five weeks and give a good 
swath. 

Millet, corn and sorghum should follow, to eke out 
these, and you will have a variety that stock will never tire 
of. It is better for swine to be fed in this way than to allow 
them to run in a pasture, since then you are not obliged to 
ring them, exposing them to the risk of becoming impreg- 
nated with contagious blood, and other infections. The 
grasses may be top-dressed to keep up the fertility. This 
should always be done with compost manure, not less than 
four loads of forty bushels each per acre per year, and if 
two bushels of plaster and one hundred pounds of super- 
phosphate be added, it will pay. It will also pay to have 
the soiling crop field as near the barn as possible. If you 
doubt the soundness of this advice, take a meadow of mixed 



6o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

grasses, top-dress it with twenty loads of compost manure, 
plaster, and super-phosphate, and watch the results. It 
will be a swath you cannot put a "scythe into clear up 
to the heel." 

No Wilted Fodder. — Whatever the soiling crop, be it 
corn, sorghum, millet, clover, meadow grass, or cow peas, 
the soil must be rich, else you will fail. You will also fail 
unless you cut it when quite green, or in its most succulent 
state. If you think it does not pay to haul the crop when 
it is heavy with moisture, you may wilt it. But good milk 
is not made from wilted plants. They are distasteful to 
stock, and are eaten only under compulsion. Above all do 
not let the cuttings lie on the wagon until they heat and 
begin to turn yellow. Distribute it as soon as hauled. 
Green grass and other fodder is in just the right state for 
heating. It will begin to get warm in half an hour if left in 
a pile. And certainly no humane man will force his stock 
to eat disgusting or distasteful food when it can so easily 
be avoided. We should almost as soon think one would 
take pleasure in having his family eat stale food. The 
taste of animals is fully as delicate as that of man. At least 
we may infer as much from watching them graze when not 
pressed by hunger. 

Commoi and German Millet. — Common millet and 
German or golden millet are both excellent fodder-plants, 
and both of them are rapid-growing crops; the first has a 
close head, the latter more open, but with plenty of leaves. 
These may be sown as late, in the North, as the first of 
July, and make a crop of hay. All the fodder crops are, 
however, often somewhat difficult to cure, late in the season, 
and both these and Hungarian grass are better sown from 
the first to the tenth of June. The usual seeding is three 
pecks to the acre, but for hay or fodder one bushel per acre 
is better. If you wish to make seed, drill one-half bushel 
of seed per acre, in drills two feet apart, covering the seed 
not more than half an inch deep. 



SOILING, FODDER AND ROOT CROPS. 



6i 



The Advantages of Soiling. 



L*^ 



The advantages of exclusive soiling, that is, cutting 
and feeding green crops in summer, will never be acknowl- 
edged in the United States, except near cities where land 
is valuable, and on restricted 
areas. The late Josiah Quincy 
is the father of soiling in Amer- 
ica ; his claims, true enough, 
were: 

I, it saves land; 2, it saves 
fencing; 3, it economizes food; 
4, it keeps cattle in better con- 
dition and greater comfort ; 5,j 
it produces more milk ; 6, it in- 
creases the quantity and quality 
of manure ; 7, there is better 
docility and discipline of animals 
where it is used; 8, there is less 
breaking of fences ; 9, there is 
increased order in all business 
of the farm. 

Mr. Quincy's testimony in re- 
lation to soiling and the crops 
grown in Massachusetts, the 
State where his operations were 
carried on, is, that one acre 
soiled from will produce at least 
as much as three acres pastured 
in the usual way, and that 
" there is no proposition in Na- 
ture more true than that any good farmer may maintain upon 
thirty acres of good arable land twenty head of cattle the 
year round, in better condition and greater comfort to the 
animals, with more profit, less labor, less trouble, and less 




MANGBL 
WURZBL. 



62 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

cash advance for himself than he, by the present mode, ex- 
pends upon a hundred acres." He further says: " My own 
experience has always been less than this, never having 
exceeded seventeen acres for twenty head. 

" To produce a sufficient quantity and succession of 
succulent food — about one and a half or two square rods 
of ground to each cow to be soiled — sow as follows: 

" As early in April as the state of the land will permit, 
which is usually between the fifth and tenth, on properly 
prepared land, oats at the rate of four bushels to the acre. 

" About the twentieth of the same month sow, either 
oats or barley, at the same rate per acre, in like quantity 
and proportions. 

" Early in May sow, in like manner, either of the above 
grains. 

" Between the tenth and twentieth of May sow Indian 
corn (Southern dent being best), in drills, three bushels to 
the acre, in like quantity and proportions. 

"About the twenty-fifth of May sow corn, in like man- 
ner and proportions. 

"About the fifth of June repeat the sowing of corn, as 
above. 

"After the last-mentioned sowing, barley should be 
sown in the above-mentioned quantity and proportions, in 
following successions, on the fifteenth and twenty-fifth of 
June, and in the first week in July, barley being the best 
qualified to resist the early frosts." 



Root Crops for Forage. 



Turnip culture revolutionized the agriculture of Eng- 
land. The cultivation of Indian corn in connection with 
western grass, making cheap beef, bids fair to revolutionize 
agriculture there again. The climate of the United States, 
with the exception of a small portion of the extreme north. 



SOILING, FODDER AND ROOT CROPS. 



63 



is unsuited to the cultivation of the white or round turnip 
on account of heat and summer drought. Even rutabagas 
are generally hot, tough and stringy. 
Another great objection to root 
crops is their cost, since they require 
much hand labor, and the roots can- 
not be grazed in the fields, as they 
can in England. And yet the need 
of some succulent vegetable food in 
winter has been so widely felt, that 
among our best farmers more or less 
attention has been paid to carrots, 
parsnips and to the sugar and mangel 
beets. We have found that mangel 
wurtzel beets fully met the require- 
ments for both cattle and sheep. 
We are as fully satisfied that ensil- 
age, to be treated of in the next chapter, will fairly 
perform all that is claimed for roots, except in some 
special cases. Hence it will be necessary to treat 
only of the general requirements for the cultivation of root 
crops. 




RED AL- 

TRINGHAM. 



Things to Remember in Root Culture. 



Important things to be remembered in the cultivation 
of roots are : 

1. They cannot be successfully raised on land recently 
treated with green manure. Why? It inevitably causes 
the roots to grow forked, reducing their value, and largely 
increasing the cost of gathering and cleaning. Hence the 
land, unless compost manure is used, should have been 
manured heavily one or two previous seasons. 

2. A root crop should never be raised except on land 
made as rich as possible with manure. Why, again.-* 
Because it costs as much to cultivate a poor acre as a rich 



64 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

one. The cultivation of roots involves an outlay of thirty 
dollars or more per acre for labor alone. 

3. The cultivation of roots should never be undertaken 
on lumpy, trashy land, or on land otherwise difficult to 
work. It adds too largely to the manual labor of making 
the crop. These points carefully remembered, it will not 
be difficult to attain the best results for the least outlay. 



Preparing for the Root Crop. 



The chief expense in the cultivation of root crops is 
hand-weeding the rows, and thinning — singling as it is 
called — the plants. Hence the necessity of perfectly clean 
land, and of having the seed sown in absolutely straight 
equidistant rows, on soil entirely free from lumps or trash, 
and thoroughly friable. The orifice of the drill that deliv- 
ers the seed should also deposit it in knife rows, that is, 
one single narrow line. In this way the hand cultivator 
may be run within an eighth of an inch of the rows, and in 
large fields gang implements may be used, by which two 
or more rows may be cultivated at a time. 

These latter, however, are never used except in the most 
extensive market gardens, where forty or more acres of 
roots are grown, or where beets are grown by the hundreds 
of acres for making sugar. The writer has raised them 
thus, putting beets in the pits at a cost of three dollars and 
forty cents per ton, on an average yield of eleven tons per 
acre. It must be remembered that beets for sugar-making 
are never to be much over one pound each in weight. On 
highly manured land, fifty tons of beets per acre, and of 
carrots and parsnips thirty or more tons per acre, may be 
raised. 

To bring the soil into the best condition, it should be 
deeply fall-plowed. In the spring, when the soil will work 
thoroughly friable, it may be lightly re-plowed, harrowed. 



SOILING, FODDER AND ROOT CROPS. 65 

leveled with the leveler, and ground fine. The accompany- 
ing cuts show Fig. I, field carrot; Fig. 2, long mangel- 
wurzel beet. The shaded edges show the ground line. 



Sowing and Cultivating. 



Field beets may be sown in drills thirty inches apart, 
and, in field culture, carrots. and parsnips in rows two feet 
apart. This will allow the horse cultivator to run between 
the rows, and after the plants have gained considerable 
size no handwork need be done. Six pounds of beet-seed 
will be required to the acre, to ensure a stand against all 
contingencies. 

Each capsule of the seed-plant contains from two to 
four seeds, and hence whether the land be weedy or not 
the plants must be singled. In all root crops the first 
thinning may be done with a narrow hoe or other imple- 
ment; the subsequent thinning by hand. A wheel hoe 
(hand cultivator) will pay for itself every year in the culti- 
vation of a single acre ; and with such an implement one 
hand will keep from five to six acres free of weeds, going 
twice in each row, at every cultivation. Carrots and pars- 
nips will require about four pounds of seed per acre, to be 
sure of a stand, and allow for what the insects may 
destroy. 

Singling. — When the plants are up about three inches 
they must be singled by hand, the beets to stand from 
nine to ten inches apart, and carrots and parsnips five to 
six inches apart. In thinning, steady boys may be em- 
ployed. They must go down on hands and knees, astride 
of the rows, the spaces having been previously marked 
for them with the point of a hoe or a gang implement, 
cutting narrow lines. In extensive cultivation we have 
done this with a horse machine going across the rows. 



66 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Weeding. — The weeders, whether boys or girls, must 
be properly instructed. Being on the hands and knees, 
the weeds, if any, having been pulled, one hand secures 
the bunch of plants to be operated on, while the other 
removes superfluous plants. If the plants are strongly 
rooted, it may be necessary to guard the plant to be left 
by holding the finger before it, close to the ground. The 
weeding is difficult to describe, but not difficult to learn. 
The overseer should practice and experiment himself, so 
he may be able to properly instruct those under his charge. 
The subsequent cultivation is simply to keep down weeds. 



Harvesting Root Crops. 

One of the most expensive operations, next to weeding, 
is harvesting. Beets may be easily pulled by plowing a 
deep furrow away from them with a one-horse plow. They 
should be laid in regular rows, two rows with the tops 
pointing together. Thus they are easily and quickly 
topped, by a man with a spade, ground sharp, topping one 
row going one way and another the other. The tops are 
more easily gathered up. The beets are then to be placed 
in long piles and covered with the leaves, or else hauled 
directly to the pit or cellar. Roots of any kind should 
never be allowed to be wilted by the sun. 

Parsnips and carrots are dug by hand or plowed out. 
In plowing, begin on one outside row, and turn a deep fur- 
row away from the row, running about seven inches from 
the row. Pass around the field and plow another furrow 
as on the first side. Returning to the first furrow, plow 
another furrow as deep as possible, and as close to the 
row as you can work. If yo.u are a first-rate plowman, you 
can hit it fairly; if not, you will here find it OHt. The roots 
are then to be pulled, or lifted with the spade, topped, and 
carried to the pits. 



SOILING, FODDER AND ROOT CROPS. 6"/ 

In Europe there are various machines for digging roots. 
One that we made, and that would loosen five acres of 
beets per day, was simply two very heavy, properly curved 
coulters, each of them running under a row of beets. The 
digger was attached to the beam of a gang-plow, and 
drawn by four horses. 



Pitting and Cellaring the Roots. 

Parsnips may be left in the ground all winter without 
injury. In the Channel Islands they are a favorite crop for 
feeding milch-cows, and all stock are fond of them. Other 
roots must be housed or covered. Parsnips are best piled 
in long ricks, whether above ground or in trenches. At- 
tention must be paid to ventilation, so that the roots shall 
not sweat and heat. If kept too warm, they will sprout. 

All roots are ruined by freezing, except parsnips, sal- 
sify, onions, and rutabagas. These when frozen must be 
thawed out naturally in the pits, kept dark, before being 
opened, in order to escape injury. The pits may be about 
three and one-half feet wide, and three feet deep below 
ground, running to a sharp apex above, with small bundles 
of straw reaching from the bottom to the top at proper in- 
tefvals. The whole should then be covered with straw, 
six inches thick ; with a covering of earth at least six 
inches in depth, or sufficent to carry off rain. 

Let the straw ventilators extend above ground. At 
the approach of hard weather, give another covering of six 
inches of straw and ten inches of earth over this, and the 
pits will be safe from any ordinary winter weather; but 
when a good crust has frozen, if very hard weather is 
feared, cover all with green manure litter. 

The cuts of carrots represents, the one at the right, the 
Danvers; the one at the left, the half-long or intermediate 
varieties. For field cultivation, the large red and the white 



68 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



(Belgian) varieties are mostly used. They grow with a 
considerable portion of "their length out of the ground, 
thus making their harvesting easier. The last cut shows 
the red Altringham carrot, one of the long-rooted varieties. 



The Artichoke. 



A CHAPTER on soiling, fodder and root crops would not 
be complete without mention of the artichoke. It was in- 
troduced into Great Britain from Brazil before the potato, 
but never met with much favor as an esculent. Until its 
value as food for swine was discovered in the West, it was 
used principally for pickling. 

It is very hardy, remaining in the ground all winter un- 
injured by our severest cold weather, and springing up the 




JERUSALEM AKTlCHoKE. 



next season without farther cultivation than that given by 
hogs in rooting out the large tubers. They are, however, 
better, if the section of the tubers are dropped in furrows 
four feet apart, and plowed once or twice, the yield in such 
cases sometimes reaching four hundred bushels to the 
acre. 

When partly grown, the tubers are round, but as they 
attain full size, they become irregularly elongated. The 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 69 

color of the skin and flesh is white, the stalks produce few 
branches, attain the height of six, and even eight feet, and 
bear yellow flowers, similar to the garden sunflower, but 
much smaller. The cut represents a tuber of the Brazilian 
variety, reduced in size. A native variety found growing 
in rich sandy bottoms of the West — the natural soil of 
the artichoke — is brown, smooth and long like the sweet 
potato ; they are eagerly sought by 'swine. 



Sices KRQ GnsicRGG. 



What is Ensilage ? 



"T^NSILAGE is a French word signifying the art of com- 
A-^ pressing into silos — pits, trenches, etc. — green crops, 
or other succulent vegetation; the word literally meaning 
the forage so preserved. Silo is the French name of the 
pit, trench or chamber in which the ensilage is stored. A 
silo, then, is simply a vat, cistern, or underground trench, 
water-tight at the bottom and sides, in which any vegetable 
substance liable to ferment may be kept fresh by exclusion 
of the air. The structure may be either entirely above or 
below ground, or partly above and partly below the sur- 
face. It is not even necessary that the silo be made water- 
tight in dry soil ; nor is it necessary that it be bricked or 
stoned up in firm soil. 

Silos and Ensilage Long Known in Europe. 

The art of preserving succulent food in tight cisterns 
has been known for many years. Brewers' grains have 
been so preserved. It is claimed that silos were known to 
the ancient Romans, but there is no good authority to show 



70 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



that green fodder was kept by them in this way. It is also 
asserted that the Mexicans so preserved their grain, both 
green and. matured, by this method. The Mexican Indians 
and the Indians of North America did often keep their corn 
in the husk in underground caves, but not under pressure 





BEFORE COVERING. 



AFTER COVERING. 



enough to exchide the air. A dry situation was chosen, 
and the grain was kept in much the same way that is now 
in general use for preserving roots — nothing more. 



The practical ap- 
silos for preserving 
and sweet, is amod- 
or of the discovery 
French. It is only 
yearsthatthe proc- 
the careful attention 
the United States. 




1FI.N.AL CO.MrKESSIO.'J 



plication of air-tight 
green forage fresh 
ern idea. The hon- 
be longs to the 
within the last few 
ess has received 
of experimenters in 



Crcvai's Experiments. — M. Crevat, after several years 
of experiment, recommends pits of the following dimen- 
sions: Depth, 2.30 meters (7.55 feet); length, 8 meters 
(26.25 feet), at the surface of the ground, sloping down 
to 7.40 meters (24.28 feet) on the bottom; breadth, 2.60 
meters (8.53 feet) at the top, and 2 meters (6.56 feet) at the 
bottom. Each pit has a capacity for about 40 cubic meters 
(about 1,412^ cubic feet) of fodder. M. Crevat has found 
reason to dieepen the trenches and to contract their width, 
in order to lessen the expense of covering them with earth. 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



n 



The sides and ends are sloped, in order to allow an oblique, 
as well as a vertical, pressure from the superincumbent 
earth, and to make the upper surface of the fodder convex. 
In each of these pits about lo^ tons of green fodder may 
be packed. Two or three days' drying in the hot sun will 
reduce it about a third in weight. Many farmers prefer 
to dry the material in order to render it more easy of trans- 
portation. The trench is filled and the fodder piled up 
above the ground to a height equal to its depth under the 
surface. The earth is then thrown upon the mass before 
fermentation commences. Two feet depth of soil will 
depress the pile at least a yard by simple pressure. After 
some days of fermentation it shrinks to less than half its 
original volume. The weight of the material, by condensa- 




SECTION ov uuunLF-: 



tion, increases from about 800 pounds per cubic yard to 
over 2,000 pounds. 

General Observatio7ts. — In some cases, the silos are 
mere pits, with walls of bare earth. In other cases, they 
are lined with brick or cement, either on sides or bottom or 
on both. Where the soil is excessively damp, the walls are 
built entirely or partially above the surface, and embank- 
ments are made for their support. It is found necessary to 
exercise special care in covering the pits to entirely exclude 
the air. The dislocations in the fermenting fodder will often 
open fissures through the covering soil, and the air thus 
admitted will transform the process of fermentation into 
one of putrefaction. Sometimes decidedly alcoholic fumes 



72 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



have been given off through the crevices in the covering. 
One case is noted in which the ensilage entirely failed, on 
account of using sand instead of earth as a covering. 
Different opinions prevail in regard to the propriety of cut- 
ting or chopping the maize into small fragments before 
packing in the trenches. In case the maize has become 
over-ripe, it is urged that cutting facilitates fermentation, 
which will render the harder portions as easy of mastica- 
tion and digestion by farm animals as the softer portions. 



The Father of Ensilage. 

To Mr. Auguste Goffart, a member of the Central 
Society of Agriculture, of France, belongs the credit of a 



^|.'::^^:>~^:- 


-aa«aii, ,i«-^— ''*'^- " - - -^*^- 


■■■ 


■H^^HK iiut , '^-j^SflmBElal 


B ' r*i 1 


.=.1 ^t " ■ 1 Ul 1. ■ i^^ 


^ml^H 


=^^^^^1 m 


samm^^aL^tis^k^f^S P^.'", <={ 



ONE OF THE EARLIER SILOS. 



system of experiments by which green fodder, cut small, 
was kept in water and air-tight excavations in almost as 
good condition as when cut. In fact, the slight fermenta- 
tion and breaking down of fiber, and the desiccations which 
the forage undergoes when thus stored, undoubtedly ren- 
ders the coarser portions of the provender more digestible, 
the change being analogous, in a sense, to cooking. 

In 1852, Mr. Goffart built six underground silos of 
cemented masonry. They were small, having a capacity 
only of two cubic meters each. [The French meter is 
three feet three and one-third inches.] Maize, Jerusalem 
artichoke, beets, sorghum, turnips, potatoes and straw 
were experimented with; but not until 1873 did he have 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 73 

real success, and then only by a fortunate discovery. This 
was exclusion of air by strong pressure. Hence to this 
gentleman is undoubtedly due the perfection of this very 
valuable method of saving fodder for the winter months. 

The Best Results. — His testimony, and no one is better 
qualified to speak authoritatively, is that a silo built upon 
the ground gives the best results during the season from 
December to March, but that underground silos are better 
for spring and summer feeding. 

He recommends silos sunk two meters (about six feet 
six inches) below ground, and raised the same distance 
above. He feeds the upper portion during winter and the 
lower portion later. In the United States, however, ensi- 
lage will not be used to the exclusion of pasturage, and 
hence it will be economical for us to cut from top to bottom, 
section by section. 

What Ensilage May Do. 



It will give us succulent food in winter and also enable 
any farmer to tide over the droughts of summer by saving 
the material in underground silos, and this at a minimum 
cost. By this means many waste products of the farm, 
such as clean, bright straw, may be added to the green 
forage to assist in taking up the superabundant moisture, 
thus reducing the whole to one homogeneous mass. 

Corn fodder is not a perfect food in itself; it may be 
made so by the addition of other matter, mill-stuffs, bran, 
etc. To the dairyman ensilage is of great value, since it 
will keep the cows up to a full flow of milk continuously. 
To the shepherd it will allow the use of succulent food, so 
needful to sheep in winter. It will assist the breeder of 
young stock in keeping them in full growth and vigor in 
winter. It will be equally valuable to the breeder and 
feeder of fine stock, who, notably, spend large sums in 
artificial feeding stuffs. 



74 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Feeding Value of Ensilage. 



M. Pasquay has deduced some valuable facts in relation 
to the feeding value of ensilage. It was found that maize 
fodder (green) has a feeding value equal to 22 per cent, of 
that of hay; rye fodder, 38 per cent. ; grass (green), 34 per 
cent. ; bright wheat-straw, 48 per cent. In a good forage 
ration for a milch cow, the ratio of nitrogenous to non- 
nitrogenous matter should be as i to 5, or even as i to 
4.5; for young animals, weighing between 250 and 300 
pounds, as i to ^.;i; for animals of 450 pounds, as i to 4; 
for oxen in absolute repose, as i to 8. Maize forage cut 
green does not meet this requirement, as it shows a pro- 
portion of I to 9.24. The maize preserved with a mixture 
of straw, as at Cercay, approximates the standard, showing 
a proportion of I to 4.81. Its increased per cent, of fatty 
matter represents also a great advantage, being six times 
greater than in the green maize. 

Other Facts. — • M. Goffart finds that his preserved 
fodder is sufficient without any other food to keep his 
animals in fine condition. M. Houette, of the department 
of Yonne, has found by experience that the maize should 
be cut for preservation in silos as near as possible to its 
maturity, when it is more nutritive, the ears more developed, 
the stalks more firm, and the watery element less pre- 
dominant. Being finely chopped before pitting, its fer- 
mentation in the silo will soften it and render it as 
palatable to animals as the freshly-cut maize. He has been 
able to keep stock upon it to the last of May, and once as 
late as July, the fodder being in a condition but imper- 
ceptibly changed from that of its primary fermentation in 
the silo. Some question has been raised as to the pro- 
priety of feeding fodder spoiled in the pits, but while no 
indications of injury from feeding it have been developed, 
it is justly considered that it is more available as a plant- 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



75 



food than animal food ; hence it is thrown upon the manure- 
pile. 

Maximum Yields. — The comparative maximum yields 
of various fodder plants in France, by M. Leconteaux, is 
summarized, as showing extreme results, but those ob- 
tained, of the root crops noted, have often been largely 
exceeded. The results are given in the table: 



NAMES OF PLANTS. 



Caragua maize (a tall species of Indian corn) 
Sugar beets ----- ----- 

Rye-grass with liquid manure ----- 

Marcite meadows of Italy ------ 

Rutabagas ---------- 

Potatoes ----------- 

Cabbages ----------- 



GRASS YIELD 


EQUIV 


ALENT 


PER ACRE. 


IN HAY. 


Tons. 


Tons. 


66.95 


16 


73 


35.68 


II 


63 


35.68 


8 


97 


28.85 


7 


21 


21.41 


5 


35 


9.81 


4 


90 


17.84 


3 


56 



The History of Ensilage. 



A COMMUNICATION to the Department of Agriculture at 
Washington, some ten years ago, shows that the preser- 
vation of fodder in silos has been practiced in Austro- 
Hungary for nearly eighty years, and in Germany previous 
to its employment in France, but since its introduction into 
the latter country it has been nowhere so elaborately 
developed as there. As we have already shown, the per- 
fect results in France have only been reached through the 
most careful and laborious experiments, carried on through 
a long series of years. 



Fermentation Should be Avoided, 



In an address at Blois, France, Mr. Goffart held that: 
"It is important to avoid all kinds of fermentation during 
and after ensilage. Fermentation can be produced when- 



^6 THE PRACTICAL HOMEFARMER. 

ever desired, and a few hours suffice to give all its useful 
effects. Take each evening from your silo themaize re- 
quired for the next day's feeding, and in fifteen or sixteen 
hours after, however cold and free from fermentation when 
taken out, it will be quite warm, in full fermentation, and 
the animals will eat it greedily. Eight hours later it will 
have passed the proper limit and it will spoil rapidly." 

With the cheap French labor, the cost of the ensilage, 
exclusive of that of raising the crop is about twenty cents 
per ton prepared and placed in the silo. 



Ensilage in the United States. 

Mr. Francis Morris, of Oakland Manor, Maryland, 
had his attention called to the subject through a French 
newspaper early in 1876. On the first of August, that 
year, he sowed five acres of corn in drills, at the rate of 
one bushel of seed to the acre. Three silos were bricked 
up inside a stone barn, each being ten feet deep, four feet 
wide, and twenty-four feet long (a single silo 12x12x24 
would have been better). Early in October, the corn being 
in tassel, it was cut with a mowing-machine, drawn to the 
silos, cut into inch pieces, and mixed with about one-fifth 
its bulk of cut straw. The whole was placed in the silos, 
and well packed by tramping as it was put in. It was 
covered with boards heavily weighted with stone, and when 
thoroughly pressed the weights were taken off, the whole 
surface covered with straw, and this with clay, well rammed 
down, to exclude air. On Christmas day a silo was opened, 
and the ensilage given to the milch cows of the farm. Two 
of them refused to eat it the first day ; the others took 
kindly to it, and the second day all ate. After that, he 
says, horses, mules, oxen, cows, sheep and pigs all ate it 
from choice. 

Had Mr. Morris known at that time the superior 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. "]•] 

methods now used to exclude air, his success would have 
been still better. It was, however, the first fairly carried 
out practical experiment in curing ensilage in the United 
States. Within the last few years dairymen in the West 
have eagerly seized upon the idea, and each year sees more 
and better silos built in all the great dairy districts. The 
system may profitably be extended among those interested 
in other branches of agriculture. 

How to Build a Silo. 



Build it so it may be entered directly from the feeding 
stables, and one-half below ground. Eight feet below and 
four feet above, the upper portion banked up with the 
excavated earth, would be better. There must be a double 
door at least five feet high and three feet wide, for ease in 
emptying the silos, after the first section is removed to a 
level with the bottom of the door. The ensilage nearest 
to the door should be supported by planks fitting into an 
inset in the wall, next to the door, to be removed one by 
one as the ensilage is taken out. 

The Foundation. — The drainage under the foundation 
should be made perfect by means of a layer of coarse gravel 
and tile leading to a point below the bottom of the silo. 
The bottom and sides should be built of stone, laid in the 
best hydraulic cement. If stone cannot be had, hard-burned 
brick is the next cheapest good material. The bricks should 
be laid in cement and the whole inside and bottom thor- 
oughly plastered with cement. 

The S2ipcr structure. — This may be of lumber, and the 
roof of shingles ; and if it is carried up one story above the 
silo, it will afford a useful workshop or room for storage 
of any kind. It will pay to finish the building in this way, 
as the extra expense will prove to be true economy in the 
end. The excavation may be mostly done with the plow 



78 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

and scraper, and the incline afterwards filled in by the 
scraper as the wall is built up. The cuts given will serve 
as a guide, so that any bricklayer and carpenter can do the 
work. Directions for raising the crops to fill the silo will 
be found in the chapter on Soiling and Fodder Crops. 



Size of Silos for Certain Numbers of Stock. 

While ensilage may be kept more or less perfect in 
simple pits, eventually the cost is reduced by the best con- 
structed silos. The silos need not be expensive, but they 
must be built thoroughly, because thorough building is 
cheap building in the end. The cut shows sections of a 
double underground silo. 

Rations for a Cow. — A cow will consume as a full ration 
from fifty to sixty pounds of ensilage a day. A cubic foot 
of ensilage weighs forty to fifty pounds, according to the 
material and pressure employed. One and a third cubic 
feet daily will keep a cow ; one cubic foot will feed a sheep 
a week, and fully one and a half cubic feet will be required 
daily for an ox. To feed a cow six months will require 
about two hundred and fifty cubic feet of ensilage. If you 
have two cows, a silo loxio feet, and ten feet deep, will 
hold about twenty-five tons, and be ample for six months' 
feeding. A silo 10x10x30 feet would keep six cows, on 
nearly full rations, or double that number when other food 
is used to supplement the ensilage — a practice we should 
advocate in the West, when other food is cheap. Hence 
the dairyman feeding half rations, that is, half ensilage and 
half other food, could feed thirty cows for six months from 
a double silo, each compartment being 12x12 feet and 
thirty feet long. An extra silo would tide double this 
number of cows over the usual six weeks of summer 
droughts. 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 79 



Practical Experience and Results. 



In 1882 the Commissioner of Agriculture, Hon. George 
B. Loring, sent out twenty-six questions in relation to silos 
and ensilage, to which nearly one hundred answers were 
returned, from fifteen States, east, south and as far west 
as Nebraska ; also from Canada. The information given 
in these answers was summarized under twenty-six heads, 
making one of the most complete and practical papers 
ever issued by the Department- Here it is- 

1. Location of Silo. — A few have been built at a dis- 
tance from the stables, but generally the silos are located 
with reference to convenience in feeding, in, under, or 
adjacent to the feeding-rooms. Local considerations will 
determine whether the silo should be below the surface, or 
above, or partly below and partly above. This is not 
essential. Where the stables are in the basement of a 
bank barn, the bottom of the silo may be on the same 
level, or a few feet below, and the top even with the upper 
floor. This arrangement combines the greatest facilities 
for filling, weighting and feeding. 

2. Form of Silo. — With rare exceptions the silos de- 
scribed show a rectangular horizontal section ; a few have 
the "corners cut off, "and one is octagonal. (The cylin- 
drical form, of which there is no instance in the accom- 
panying statements' seems to have obvious advantages. 
If under ground, a cylindrical wall is self-supporting 
against outside pressure, and may be much lighter than 
would be safe in any other form. If of wood and above 
ground, the walls may be stayed with iron bands. In any 
case, for a given capacity, the cylindrical form requires the 
least possible amount of wall.) 

A given weight of ensilage in a deep silo requires less 
extraneous pressure, and exposes less surface to the air, 
than it would in a shallow silo. For these reasons depth 



8o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

is important. If too deep, there is danger of expressing 
juice from the ensilage at the bottom. 

Where the ensilage is cut down in a vertical section for 
feeding, a narrow silo has the advantage of exposing little 
surface to the air. 

3. Capacity of Silo. — The silos reported vary in 
capacity from 364 to 19,200 cubic feet. If entirely full of 
compressed ensilage, the smallest would hold 9. i and the 
largest 480 tons, estimating 50 pounds to the cubic foot. 
Practically, the capacity of a silo is less to the extent that 
the ensilage settles under pressure. This should not exceed 
one-fourth, though in shallow silos, or those filled rapidly 
and with little treading, it is likely to be much more. A 
temporary curb is sometimes added to the silo proper, so 
that the latter may be full when the settling ceases. 

4. Walls of Silo. — For walls underground, stone, 
brick and concrete are used. The choice in any case may 
safely depend on the cost. In firm soils that do not become 
saturated with water, walls are not essential to the preser- 
vation of ensilage. Above ground, two thicknesses of inch 
boards, with sheathing paper between (the latter said, by 
some, to be unnecessary), seem to be sufficient, if supported 
against lateral pressure from the ensilage. 

5. Covering. — A layer of straw or hay will serve in 
some measure to exclude air, but is not necessary. Gener- 
ally boards or planks are placed directly on the ensilage. 
The cover is sometimes made in sections two feet or more 
wide ; oftener each plank is separate. The cover is gener- 
ally put on transversely, having in view the uncovering of 
a part of the silo while the weight remains on the rest. 
Rough boards, with no attempt at matching, have been 
used successfully. A little space should be allowed between 
the walls and cover, that there may be no interference as 
the settling progresses. 

6. Weight. — Any heavy material may be used. The 
amount required depends on various conditions. It will be 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 8l 

noticed that practices and opinions differ widely. The 
object is always to make the ensilage compact, and thereby 
leave little room for air, on which depends fermentation 
and decay. In a deep silo the greater part is sufficiently 
compressed by a few feet of ensilage at the top, so that 
there is small percentage of waste, even when no weight is 
applied above the ensilage. Screws are used by some 
instead of weights. The objection to them is that they are 
not self-acting, like gravity. 

7. Cost. — The cost of silos, per ton of capacity, varies 
from four or five dollars, for walls of heavy masonry and 
superstructures of elaborate finish, and fifty cents or less 
for the simplest wooden silos. Earth silos, without wall, 
can be excavated with plow and scraper, when other work 
is not pressing, at a trifling cost. 

8. Crops for Ensilage. — Corn takes the lead of ensi- 
• lage crops. Rye is grown by many in connection with 

corn — the same ground producing a crop of each in a 
season. Oats, sorghum, Hungarian grass, field peas, 
clover — in fact, almost every crop valuable for soiling has 
been stored in silos and taken out in good condition. 
There are indications that some materials have their value 
enhanced by the fermentation of the silo, while in others 
there is loss. The relative values for ensilage, of the differ- 
ent soiling crops, can only be determined through careful 
tests, often repeated, by practical men. 

All thoughtful farmers would be glad to get more value 
from the bulky "fodder" of their corn crops than is found 
in any of the common methods. There are accounts of 
plucking the ears when the kernels were well glazed, and 
putting the fodder into the silo. The value of such ensi- 
lage, and the loss, if any, to the grain are not sufficiently 
ascertained to warrant positive statements. 

9. Planting and Cultivation. — Thorough preparation 
before planting is essential. Corn, sorghum and similar 



82 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

crops should be planted in rows. The quantity of seed- 
corn varies from eight quarts to a bushel and a half for 
an acre. A smoothing-harrow does the work of cultivat- 
ing perfectly, and with little expense, while the corn is 
small. 

10. When Crops are at their Best for Ensilage. — 
The common practice is to put crops into the silo when 
their full growth has been reached, and before ripening 
begins. Manifestly one rule will not answer all purposes. 
The stock to be fed and the object in feeding must be con- 
sidered in determining when the crop should be cut. On 
this point must depend much of the value of ensilage. 

11. Yield or Ensilage Crop. — Corn produces more 
fodder per acre than any other crop mentioned. The aver- 
age for corn is not far from twenty tons — which speaks well 
for land and culture. The largest yield from a single acre 
was fifty-eight tons; the average of a large area on the 
same farm was only twelve and a half tons. 

12. Kind of Corn Best for Ensilage. — The largest is 
generally preferred; hence seed grown in a warmer climate 
is in demand. 

1 3. Sweet Corn for ENSiLAGE.-^It is conceded by many 
that the fodder of sweet corn is worth more, pound for 
pound, than that of larger kinds, for soiling. Some hold 
that the same superiority is retained in the ensilage, while 
others think that the advantage after fermentation is on the 
other side. The sweet varieties generally do not yield large 
crops. 

14. Preparing Fodder for the Silo. — The mowing- 
machine is sometimes used for cutting corn in the field — 
oftener the work is done by hand. Various cutters, having 
carriers attached for elevated silos, are in use, and are 
generally driven by horse, steam or water power. Fine 
cutting — a half-inch, or less — is in favor. It packs closer, 
and for this reason is likely to keep better than coarse 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 83 

ensilage. Fodder of any kind may be put in whole, and, 
if as closely compressed as cut fodder, will keep as well, if 
not better ; but it requires much greater pressure. 

15. Filling the Silo. — During the process of filling, 
the ensilage should be kept level, and well trodden. A 
horse may be used very effectively for the latter. Some 
attach much importance to rapid filling, while others make 
it more a matter of convenience. With the packing 
equally thorough, rapid filling is probably best. 

16. Cost of Filling the Silo. — The cost, from field 
to silo, is variously reported from thirty-five cents — and 
in a single instance ten or twelve cents — for labor alone, 
to two dollars and upwards per ton ; though the higher 
amounts include the entire cost of the crop, not the har- 
vesting alone. There is a general expectation that ex- 
perience will bring a considerable reduction in the cost of 
filling. 

It is probable that, with a more general adoption of 
ensilage, the best machinery will be provided by men who 
will make a business of filling silos. This could hardly 
fail to lessen the cost and bring the benefits of the system 
within the reach of many who otherwise would not begin. 

17. Time from Filling to Opening Silo. — The en- 
silage should remain under pressure at leat until cool, and 
be uncovered after that when wanted. 

18. Condition OF Ensilage when Opened. — In nearly 
all cases the loss by decay was very slight, and cgnfined to 
the top and sides where there was more or less exposure 
to air. 

19. Deterioration after Opening. — Generally the 
ensilage has kept perfectly for several months, showing no 
deterioration while any remained in the silo, excepting 
where exposed for a considerable time. It is better to 
uncover a whole silo, or compartment of a silo, at once, 
and thus expose a new surface each day, than to cut down 
sections. 



84 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

20. Value of Ensilage for Milch Cows.— Ensilage 
has been fed to milch cows more generally than to any 
other class of stock, and no unfavorable results are re- 
ported. There can be little doubt that its greatest value 
will always be found in this connection. Several feeders 
consider it equal in value to one-third of its weight of the 
best hay, and some rate it higher. 

21. Effects on Dairy Products. — There is a marked 
increase in quantity and improvement in quality of milk 
and butter after changing from dry feed to ensilage, cor- 
responding with the effects of a similar change to fresh 
pasture. A few seeming exceptions are noted, which will 
probably find explanation in defects easily remedied, rather 
than such as are inherent. 

22. Value for Other Stock. — Ensilage has been fed 
to all classes of farm stock, including swine and poultry, 
with results almost uniformly favorable. Exceptions are 
noted in the statements of Messrs. Coe Bros, and Hon. C. B. 
Henderson, where it appears that horses were injuriously 
affected. It should be borne in mind in this connection 
that ensilage is simply forage preserved in a silo, and may 
vary as much in quality as hay. The ensilage that is best 
for a milch cow may be injurious to a horse, and that on 
which a horse would thrive might render a poor return in 
the milk-pail. 

23. Daily Ration of Ensilage. — Cows giving milk 
are comn^only fed fifty to sixty pounds, with some dry fod- 
der and grain. 

24. Method of Feeding. — Experiments have been 
made in feeding ensilage exclusively, and results have 
varied with the quality of ensilage and the stock fed. It is 
certain that ensilage of corn cut while in blossom, or earlier, 
is not alone sufficient for milch cows. It is best to feed 
hay once a day, and some grain or other rich food, unless 
the latter is supplied in the ensilage, as it is when corn hits 



SILOS AND ensilagp:. 85 

reached or passed the roasting-ear stage before cutting. 
Ensilage, as it is commonly understood, is a substitute for 
hay and coarse fodder generally, and does not take the 
place of grain. 

25. The Condition of Stock, fed on ensilage, both 
as to health and gain in weight, has been uniformly favor- 
able. 

26. Profitableness of Ensilage. — There is hardly a 
doubt expressed on this point — certainly not a dissenting 
opinion. 

Perfect Food and Rations. 



Mr. Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, in relation to the 
method of feeding, says: "For milch cows I should feed 
fifty pounds ensilage, ten pounds hay; if shorts were not 
too high, would feed two quarts per day, and if the dairy 
product was in demand, would give a little meal of some 
kind." 

In the West more grain and less ensilage would natur- 
ally be fed. When corn is used as ensilage, we should 
recommend bran, mill-feed and oil-cake in preference to the 
corn in the grain. A mixture of one-quarter prickly com- 
prey (strong in nitrogen), one-half corn fodder, and one- 
quarter rowen hay, with fifty pounds of bran to the ton of 
green fodder, will make a perfect food for milch cows. 
Then, fifty pounds of ensilage and five pounds of corn- 
meal would make a rich ration for each cow. 

Some Statements of the Quantity Fed. 



Mr. Jason Allen, Massachusetts, says: From the loth 
of November to the loth of January, I fed forty-five 
pounds of ensilage and five pounds of hay; from the loth 
of January to the loth of March, sixty pounds of ensilage 
and four pounds of middlings to dry stock, and two pounds 



86 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

more to milch cows; from the loth of March until May i, 
sixty pounds of ensilage, one foddering of oat straw, and 
six pounds of grain to cows in milk. He regards sixty 
pounds of ensilage, with six pounds of grain, for an aver- 
age-sized cow, per day, as a full ration. 

Col. LeGrand B. Cannon, Vermont, fed an average of 
eighty-five pounds per head for three-year old steers, 
daily, for five and a half months, with three pounds of 
grain daily. Cattle fed as stated made a greater gain, and 
were in better health and condition than others fed on 
twenty pounds of chopped hay and three pounds of grain. 

Mr. Wm. B. Eager, of Nebraska, fed forty pounds per 
day per head. The mid-day feed was of cut-dry corn- 
fodder, or cut millet hay, with ground feed. Occasionally 
for trial we fed meal upon the ensilage, but abandoned it 
and fed ensilage alone, and meal upon dry food, or cattle 
will not eat it. The herd of over three hundred milch cows 
came out in better flesh than when taken from pasture. 

Prof. S. C. Armstrong, principal of the Hampton 
Normal School, in Virginia, only experimented with thirty 
tons, which were fed in one month's trial. The quantity 
fed was sixty pounds per day, with other food, and about 
three quarts of wheat bran. There was no perceptible 
change in the condition of the stock. He says ensilage 
works well with other food ; does well as a substitute for 
roots. 

Prof. J. McBryde, of Knoxville, Tennessee, says: "All 
our milch-cows receiving ensilage showed a notable im- 
provement in milk. Butter made from milk of cows fed on 
ensilage of excellent flavor. Three yearling steers fed 
exclusively on long forage; one, weighing four hundred and 
twenty-eight pounds, received a daily ration of twenty 
pounds of hay ; gained twenty-two pounds in twenty-eight 
days. Another, weighing four hundred and fifty-seven 
pounds, received ten pounds hay and twenty pounds ensi- 
lage; gained twenty-eight pounds. A third, weighing four 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 87 

hundred and forty-two pounds, received forty pounds 
ensilage, and gained thirty-eight pounds. Two pounds 
ensilage gave better results than one pound hay. It is 
plain that animals should be fed on mixed rations of ensi- 
lage and matter rich in albuminoids." 

Mr. L. W. Weeks, of Wisconsin, says: " I feed milch- 
cows from forty to fifty pounds at two feedings, morning 
and night, mixed with two pounds of corn-meal each feed, 
and same weight of some nitrogenous food, as oat-meal, 
barley-meal, or mill feed. At noon I feed hay, oats in 
straw chaffed, or barley straw chaffed ; and stock always 
gaining in condition, coming out in spring in high flesh 
and healthy. Since feeding ensilage, I have had no trouble 
with garget or other unhealthy condition of udder. In my 
experience, ensilage has proved a gain in profit of certainly 
forty per cent, over any method of dry feeding that I know, 
besides enabling one to carry three times the amount ot 
stock possible on the same amount of land with dry feed- 
ing." 

Mr. John D. Whitman, of Iowa, testifies that ensilage 
is fully equal to half its weight in hay ; the effects very 
similar to that of green grass, and extra good for calves. 

If on full feed, seventy pounds per day is fed ; a less 
amount with grain and hay is better. 

Mr. George A. Pierce, of Canada, says that ensilage is 
very valuable for dairy stock, entirely taking the place of 
roots, and largely that of hay. 

Immediately on feeding the ensilage the butter gained 
in quality and quantity. No fault was found by the pur- 
chaser. 

Fed a few steers on ensilage and they did well; calves 
and young stock did remarkably well. He fed sixty to sev- 
enty pounds per day, mixed with meal. The stock began 
to gain as soon as they were fed ensilage; formerly had 
hay, roots, and some grain. He found ensilage a great 
advantage over the system of feeding hay and roots in 
winter. 



88 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Dr. John Q. Sutherland, of St. Louis County, Missouri, 
was one of the first practical farmers in the West to adopt 
the ensilage system, after Mr. Morris' experiments had 
demonstrated its value. He kept thirty-two head of milch 
cattle, which he fed on ensilage both in the winter and in 
the season of scant pasturage at midsummer, making the 
ration fifty-five pounds per day of corn ensilage to each 
cow. This he supplemented with a sufficient quantity of 
dry food — chopped hay and bran — in winter, to keep the 
animals in good condition, but in midsummer little besides 
the ensilage was needed. His cows were always up to a 
full flow of milk, and the butter excellently flavored. 

Thus the testimony of practical farmers from widely 
separated locations is conclusive as to the value of ensi- 
lage. . 

The Cost of Ensilage in Massachusetts. 

The following statement of Mr. Jason Allen gives a fair 

exhibit of the cost of ensilage, and may be taken as a fair 

approximation where much hand labor is employed. In 

the West and Southwest the cost ought to be considerably 

less: 

Plowing three acres - - - - - - -$900 

Harrowing ---------3 00 

Commercial fertilizers - - - - - - -2000 

Fifteen loads of manure, one-half charged to the corn - i 5 00 

Planting -------- -4 50 

Seed-corn ---------5 00 

Replanting - -- - - - - - - 3 00 

Harrowing twice - - - - - - - - 300 

Hoeing by hand - - - - - - - - 6 00 

Cultivating by hand - - - - - - - 3 00 

Use of land ---------800 

Raising crop --------- $79 50 

Cutting and storing in silo - - - - - - 47 75 

Whole cost --------- $127 25 

Cost per ton - - - - - - - - -$2 70 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 89 

In the West corn fodder can be raised ready for cutting 
at a cost of one and a quarter days for man and team per 
acre. 

Building a Model Silo. 



Mr. Bisbee, of New York State, thus describes his plan 
of building : The top of the silo is even with a plateau, the 
bank descending fifty feet to the stable, and very steep. 
The ensilage is taken out by a hoisting apparatus over the 
top of the stone wall, and carried in a car on a gently de- 
scending grade into a small house, built on the roof of the 
stable, where the bottom falls out, and the ensilage drops 
to the floor over the stable. The silos were built double ; 
seven and eight feet wide, respectively, by 24x15 feet deep. 
The material was stone. Outside walls dry, thirty inches 
thick at the bottom, and twenty at the top. Division wall 
twenty inches, laid in cement, and all walls plastered with 
cement. The walls were built by masons, in accordance 
with their notions of fitness, with the result of an extrav- 
agant cost. Above the silo walls is a curb of matched 

o 

boards, six feet high, for settling-room — of course a roof 
covers the whole. The silos were covered with hemlock 
planks, and weighted with stone fourteen inches thick, and 
earth banked at ends of plank. The cost was between 
$700 and $800. 

Mr. N. Gridley, New York, has a silo 32x12x10 feet 
deep, built of concrete, 14 to 16 inches thick. Posts set 
in the ground and lined with two-inch plank, put in as 
wall is built. Any kind of stone used. One part cement 
to five parts sand, mixed while dry, then wet so that it will 
pour from the pails in which it is carried. After the posts 
and planks are taken down the walls are plastered with 
cement, made with less sand. Bottom covered about two 
inches with gravel. The cost was $200, including light 
frame building over it. 



go THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Practical Conclusions from Careful Experiments. 



Col. LeGrand B. Cannon, of Vermont, previously 
quoted, gives some well-digested observations and experi- 
ments, which we append. He considers ensilage profita- 
ble, and believes it is entirely healthy, taking the place of 
roots. It is easily digested, as is shown by the uniform 
temperature of the animals and the condition of the skin 
and hair. 

The claims made by many writers in regard to ensilage 
are extravagant ; that it has certain advantages cannot be 
denied. 

First. Not more tWan fifteen to twenty-five tons can be 
depended upon per acre. 

Second. It is more certain as a crop than hay. 

Third. Twice as many animals can be kept on the same 
acreage. 

Fourth. It is largely a substitute for roots. 

Fifth. The labor of feeding ensilage is much less than 
hay. 

Sixth. The space required to store ensilage is not one- 
quarter that required for hay. 

Experiment. — I fed ninety 3-year-old steers, divided in 
three lots ; cattle and feed weighed monthly. 

First lot. Fed twenty pounds hay with three pounds 
grain daily ; run in yard with shelter. 

Second lot. Kept in warm stable and stanchions ; fed 
seventeen and a half pounds of hay, one peck mangolds, 
and three pounds grain. 

Third lot. Fed eighty-five pounds ensilage with three 
pounds grain ; this lot gained one-quarter pound a day 
more than No. 2, and one-half pound more than lot No. i. 
The cost five per cent, in favor of ensilage. 



Tgxticg Grgps rrd Fibgrs. 



Cotton— Its History and Cultivation. 



V i/HIS wonderful plant, which has revolutionized the 
r-^ clothing manufacture of the world, is a native of the 
tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia, Africa and 
America. Until the invention of the cotton gin, it could 
not be economically utilized. By hand labor, only a few 
pounds of the lint could be separated from the seed in a 
day. By the use of the cotton gin, three thousands pounds 
a day may be prepared for baling and market. 

Though manufactured into cloth more than three thou- 
sand years ago, described by Herodotus, who lived four 
hundred and forty years before Christ, and mentioned by 
Strabo in the first century after Christ, as being manufac- 
tured into printed cloths, flowered, and of brilliant hues, it 
was not until nearly the middle of the present century that 
the production and manufacture of cotton had become so 
cheapened that it could be generally used. Pliny called it 
Gossypium, the scientific name by which it is now known. 



THE SOILS FOR COTTON. 



Long Staple. — The delicate, long-stapled, sea-island 
cotton, is grown in a very narrow belt, lying along the 
coast of South Carolina, Georgia and part of Florida. The 
soil is dark gray, sandy, with a powdering of peat, shell, 
wood, twigs and leaves. 

Uplands. — The upland or green seed cotton is raised 
from a variety of soils, but the rich alluvial soils of the 
bottom lands of the Mississippi Valley are the best. The 
region of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, underlaid by 
rocks of the cretaceous (chalk) system — soft argillaceous 
limestone and the sandy soils underlaid by metamorphic 



92 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

rocks, sandstones and chert limestones, aiso make first-rate 
cotton soils. But whatever the surface soil, it must have 
good and deep drainage, and not a large amount of veget- 
able matter to produce the best staple. 

Soils that are light (fluffy), that dry out easily on the 
surface, that are composed mainly of decayed vegetation, 
and deficient in drainage, should never be selected for cot- 
ton. Rich, deep humus soils, however great a crop of 
stalks they may raise, will never give good results in fiber. 
So again, soil sthat are cold or wet in the sub-soil, or those 
subject to flooding, will not grow cotton. Scab, rot, in- 
sects and other contingencies will destroy the crop. 

Soils that are silicious and aluminous, rich in potash 
and other mineral matter, are always sought for cotton. A 
dark-colored, warm, finely comminuted upland, or second 
bottom, is always to be preferred, if not too rich in vege- 
table matter. 

COTTON CULTIVATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The aborigines of Mexico and the South American 
Pacific slope cultivated cotton and wove it into cloth. The 
savage tribes of the United States knew nothing of its use. 
The plant is supposed to have been introduced, about 
1664, from Barbadoes. A South Carolina planter clothed 
his negroes in 1778 with cotton prepared entirely by hand, 
though the spinning-jenny of Arkwright was invented in 
1769, and that of Hargreaves in the next year. Little cot- 
ton was raised in the United States up to the year 1793, 
when the invention of the cotton gin by Whitney started a 
revolution in cotton industries. By this originally crude 
instrument, instead of one pound of lint per hand, 350 
pounds could be cleaned in a day. 

The first cotton shipped from North America was one 
bag of the staple sent abroad in 1740, and no more was 
shipped for fifty years. During the Revolutionary war 
cotton was cultivated in small patches and woven at home. 
In 1793 cotton was first planted as a marketable crop. 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. 93 

In 1795 1,000,000 pounds was exported. In 1804 the 
first long-stapled cotton was raised in South Carolina. In 
1826 the pioneer cultivator of this improved lint sold only 
sixty bags, but he got $1.25 a pound for it. In 1785 the 
seed of the short-stapled, or upland, cotton was introduced 
into Georgia from the West Indies. From that time on, 
improvements of the steam engine and new inventions in 
spinning and weaving machinery have caused a steady in- 
crease in the annual production for export and home use. 



Increasing Importance of Cotton. 



In 1792 the export of cotton was 138,328 pounds; in 
1840, 744,000,000 pounds; in i860, 1,765,115,735 pounds, 
or 4,412,789 bales of 400 pounds each, but the quantity 
produced in i860 was 2,079,230,800 pounds, or 5,198,077 
bales. This production had fallen off somewhat in 1870, 
when the quantity produced was reported as 3,011,996 
bales, or 1,204,798,400 pounds. During the war the pro- 
duction dropped to almost nothing. For the first eleven 
years after the war the average crop was about 3,300,000 
bales, which is almost exactly the average for the eleven 
years immediately preceding the war. The largest crop 
made in America previous to i860 was 4,669,770 bales in 
1859, which fell far short of the crop of 1880-81. Of late 
years the increasing demand for cotton and the better 
prices obtained have caused a rapid increase in the quantity 
raised, a large proportion of the crop being raised on small 
farms and by white labor. 

The crop of 1880-81 was 6,589,329 bales, the largest 
ever produced up to that time, though it may soon be 
looked upon as no more than a fair average crop. Of this, 
4,596,279 bales were exported, and the home consumption 
was 1,891,804 bales. The crop of 1882-3 was 5,425,845 



94 



THE PKACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



bales. The comparison of seventeen-year periods, one 
ending with 1 860-61, and the other with 1881-82, shows: 



First period of seventeen 

years - - - - 
Second period of seven- 
teen years - - - 



CROP IN 
BALES. 



s 1.330,790 

63,377.375 



EXPORTA- 
TION—BALES, 



39,913,005 
46,892,528 



HOME CON- 
SUMPTION- 
BALES. 



11.422.799 
21.494,210 



COTTON BY STATES. 



States. 



Virginia ------- 

North Carolina - - - - - 

South Carolina - - - - - 

Georgia ------- 

Florida ------- 

Alabama ------- 

Mississippi ------ 

Louisiana ------- 

Te.xas -----,--- 

Arkansas ------- 

Tennessee ------ 

Missouri. Indian Territory, etc 



ACRES. 



61 
1 ,050 

1.587 
2,844 

260 
2,534 
2,233 

887 
2,810 
1 .1 10 

815 
79 



985 
543 
244 
.305 
,402 
.388 
,844 
.524 
,113 
.790 
,760 

.793 



16,276,691 



YIELD 

PER 
ACRE. 



178 
180 

183 
152 
117 
150 
190 

235 
240 

233 
170 
180 



187 



POUNDS OF 
LINT. 



11,033.330 
189.097.740 
290,465,652 
432.334,360 

30,467,034 
380,158,200 
424,430,360 
208,568,140 
674,427,120 
258,814,070 
138,679,200 

•4,362,742 



3.052.837,946 



The production of the twelve cotton States, with the 
acreage of each State, average yield of lint per acre, and 
the pounds of lint produced, with totals for the year 1882, 
are shown by the preceding table. Suppose careful culti- 
vation should raise the average to that of Texas, it would 
increase the yearly total to nearly one billion of pounds. 

THE CLIMATE FOR COTTON. 

Cotton has been called a child of the sun. It requires 
a strong heat and plenty of sunshine, but the heat must be 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. 95 

moist. There must be abundant moisture, with continuous 
sunny weather. Between latitude 30° and ;}f in the 
United States these conditions exist, where the soil con- 
tains plenty of sand, or is so well drained as quickly to 
percolate superabundant moisture. 

North Carolina is the northern boundary of its pro- 
fitable cultivation on the Atlantic coast, while the bottom 
lands of Tennessee are practically its northern limit on the 
east banks of the Mississippi. High prices, at times, have 
have tempted its cultivation in Kentucky and Missouri, 
somewhat largely in Kansas, on the eastern shore of Mary- 
land, in southern Deleware, southern Indiana and Illinois, 
and even in southern Iowa. It may be ripened up to 40 
degrees north latitude, but north of Tennessee it will not 
pay. Arkansas contains much fine cotton land ; so does 
the Indian Territory, and in Texas, as is well known, the 
soil and climate, in wide districts, is admirable. The 
great Cotton States, in the relative order of production 
are: Georgia, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi. The three 
other States, in each of which, in 1882, over 1,000,000 
acres were cultivated, were South Carolina, Arkansas and 
North Carolina. Louisiana and Tennessee produced less 
than 1,000,000 bales. 

THE BEST COTTON STATES. 

So far as the climate is concerned, the best regions for 
cotton cultivation in the United States are in the lower 
parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and 
Texas. In these regions there is comparatively little frost, 
and the winter is always mild, with considerable heat in the 
summer ; but this is tempered, to a great extent, by the 
pleasant and salutary effects of the sea breeze, which sets 
in from the Gulf or the Atlantic for a greatpart of the day. 
There are heavjj dews at night, and frequent showers 
occur, in the spring as well as in the summer. In the in- 
terior and more northern portions of these States (which 



96 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

are, in some parts, elevated from five hundred to one 
thousand feet above the level of the sea), frost is expected 
in October, and often continues until April; sometimes it 
occurs even in May, so as to injure, but does not then 
usually destroy, the plant. The heat of summer, though 
frequently high, still is tempered by the influence of the 
ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, and of the numerous great 
rivers, as well as by the dews and occasional showers. 

The cultivation of cotton is generally commenced about 
the beginning of April, when the land is still saturated with 
the winter rains, and difficulty is sometimes experienced in 
getting the land sufficiently dry ; otherwise, a good shower 
is essential when cotton is first sown, and it is desirable 
also to have occasional showers during the planting, plow- 
ing and hoeing season. The bolls begin to open about the 
middle of July, and continue to do so until the appearance 
of frost, from the middle to the end of October. 

The whole region west of the Alleghany Mountains is 
adapted to cotton much further north than is the region 
east of the Alleghanies. The direction of the valleys fav- 
ors the drawing-in of the warm air of the Gulf of Mexico, 
and the summer climate is thus modified even up to Wis- 
consin and Minnesota, so that Indian corn, tobacco, melons 
and other fast-growing, semi-tropical products are freely 
produced. 

THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

Of late years the cultivation of cotton has been much 
simplified by improved implements for ridging, sowing the 
seed and cleaning the crop. The principal points to' be 
remembered have been stated by an experienced cultivator 
in the middle cotton region as follows: 

Lands should be deeply and thoroughly plowed long 
enough before planting to allow the spring rains to settle 
the soil. If not plowed previously, particular pains should be 
taken to secure uniform and deep pulverization. If rough 
and full of clods, the harrow should follow the plow. 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. 97 

The usual practice among- successful cultivators is to 
form beds wifh the turning plow, as foundations for the 
ridges, turning furrows both ways toward the centers. 

Ridge planting is almost universally practiced; yet the 
custom of planting in hills, as with corn, has obtained, and 
may be preferable in otherwise suitable lands that are 
inclined to be too moist and cold, giving a better exposure 
of the fibrous side roots to the action of the sun. An in- 
creased elevation given to the ridge has essentially the 
same effect. 

If land has been fallow, or in sod, it should first be 
thoroughly broken up with a heavy plow, and then bedded 
with a smaller one, harrowing after the first plowing. This 
not only pulverizes thoroughly, but leaves grass and weeds 
far beneath the surface. It will not do to slight the work 
at this stage; the success of the crop depends upon its 
character If done well, half the battle of the season is 
over. 

When the ridge is ready to open for seeding, great care 
should be taken to get a perfectly straight furrow, to facili- 
tate "scraping out " superfluous cotton and grass. Avery 
light and narrow plow should be used, making a furrow 
not exceeding an inch in depth. Unless the soil is very 
light and dry, the seed should not be covered half an inch. 
A wooden instrument for making the seed bed is frequently 
used to advantage instead of a plow. 

The distance between ridges and between the plants 
must depend upon the probable size of the plants, which 
vary from eighteen inches to half as many feet in height. 
The largest yield is secured by so graduating the distance 
that the plants will cover the grounds and slightly interlock 
their branches. In good soils the ridges should be four 
feet apart, and the plants fifteen inches; in lighter, three 
and a half, and twelve inches; in very rich lands the ridges 
might be four and a half feet, and the plants fifteen to 
eighteen inches. This direction is good for cotton soils. 



98 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER 

If a Stinted growth only is expected, plants may be set 
nearer; some of our amateur planters think sjx inches will 
do, but counsels so extreme should not be heeded. This 
was the general plan followed up to within twenty years 
ago, and in small fields where much of the work must be 
done by hand it would be a good practice now; at all events, 
the land must be cleared of trash. The large planter will 
of course avail himself of all improved implements possi- 
ble to facilitate and cheapen labor. This is written princi- 
pally for that class who cultivate comparatively small areas. 
It would be better for all these to hire the improved 
implements, if they cannot buy. 

One thing must be remembered; cotton will not make 
a crop unless the land is in good heart ; strong land will 
grow heavy grass and weeds ; unless these are kept under, 
the crop is a failure, for the roots of cotton must have the 
soil and the tops the sun. The distance of the rows from 
each other, and the intervals of the plants in the row, should 
vary with the fertility of the soil. The rule for uplands is 
four feet between the rows, and twenty inches between the 
plants. In lands that are strong enough to yield a bale to 
the acre, the spaces should be five feet one way by three 
the other ; while in the valleys of the Southwest, such as the 
Red river and Brazos bottoms, the luxuriance of the growth 
is such as to require an interval of eight feet between the 
rows, and of five or six between the plants, and even then 
the branches interlock so that it is difficult to walk between 
the rows. 

PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 

If the soil be poor and worn, manures must be applied; 
but large quantities of barn-yard manure are not advisable, 
especially in soils that already have much humus. Phos- 
phatic manures, lime and potash, would here be indicated. 
The question of manure must be settled, each man for 
himself, according to the cost. The preparation of the 
soil, recommended by a writer having wide experience in 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. 



99 



Louisiana, is as follows: " Where the field is foul with 
weeds or the stalks of last year's crop, it is best to bury 
them under the middle of the cotton ridge, audit is recom- 
mended to run a double furrow at intervals of four feet in 
hill lands, and at intervals of five or six feet in bottom lands. 
This can be done early in January, whenever the ground 
is not too wet. Behind each plow are two hoe hands, to 
break up and pull down into these ditches all the dead 
growth of the surface, one from the right side and the 
other from the left. Let ii be well pulled down into the 




THK TJ [ b TK ^ T 



trench, and covered with some earth to keep it in place. 
Then, about the middle of February, accordingto situation, 
latitude and drainage of the land, let the double plows 
set in to break up the entire surface. If the rows for bury- 
ing the trash are uniformly laid off, they can be used as 
the foundation of the bed or ridge. Throw a deep furrow 
from each side into the trench, filling it, and coveringf all 
the trash, and continue to plow out the intervening spaces 
or middles, as they are called, until the whole surface is 
turned under. This plowing should be deep and thorough. 
Plowing and Fertilizing. — If compost or barn-yard 
manure is applied to the field, it should be done just before 



lOO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

plowing, and scattered broadcast. If concentrated fertil- 
izers, such as ashes, guano, gypsum or superphosphates 
are to be used, they are best applied in the drill. In 
respect to fertilizers for the cotton field, it may be here 
remarked that cotton is a moderate consumer of the salts 
that nourish plants, especially if the seed is returned to the 
soil, as it should be, in the form of manure. Potash and 
phosphate of lime should abound in any manure applied to 
cotton. The effect of an abundance of potash in the soil 
will be to secure thrifty plants. The effect of phosphoric 
acid is to produce plenty of seed and a strong fine staple, 
and this is what brings the money. 

When to Plant.- — One rule, and a good one, is to plant 
cotton as soon as the oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's 
ear. Another good rule is to plant when the hickory buds 
have opened to show the leaves. This indicates that the 
days and nights are so warm that there is little danger of 
frost. 

The amount of seed will depend upon the danger of 
destruction by cut-worms, etc. It is always best to plant 
seed liberally, but not, as some do, to manure the soil with 
them. The plants inevitably spindle before being thinned, 
and once spindled, you have lost your profit. 

TENDING THE GROWING CROP. 

TJie First Cultivation. — The first cultivation of the 
crop should begin about fifteen days after the planting, or 
as soon as the weeds begin to start. If the instructions 
given above, with regard to evenness of rows and of the 
intervals between the plants are followed, the first cultiva- 
tion may be easy and rapid. A light plow should be run 
close to the line of plants, cutting away the weeds and 
grass and stirring the earth to a moderate depth. The 
hoes follow, smoothing the inequalities produced by the 
plow, and clearing the intervals between the clumps of 
young plants. In the ordinarv mode of planting, when the 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. lOI 

seed is scattered thickly through the. drills, this first culti- 
vation is called "chopping out." 

The Second Cultivation. — Two weeks after, the hands 
should go over the crop again, thinning out the young 
plants to a stand. This is sometimes done at the first cul- 
tivation, especially in strong soils. The second cultivation 
should be the most thorough of any, the thriftiest plants 
only being spared, and the rest being pulled up with care 
so as not to displace the roots of those allowed to remain. 
A little fresh earth is thrown around the roots of the 
young plants, and the entire ridge, as well as the intervals 
between, should be made perfectly clean. On a good soil, 
with favorable seasons, the growth will now be rapid, and 
the subsequent cultivation can be effected mainly by horse 
implements ; but very deep cultivation, except in bedding 
up the land in the spring, is never beneficial. It breaks 
the lateral roots of the plants, arnd this retards the develop- 
ment of the pod and curtails the picking season ; hence, 
the best implement for cultivating cotton is one which, 
instead of turning the soil, scrapes and pulverizes the sur- 
face of the earth. 

The Scooter Ploiu. — The implement in common use is 
very well adapted to this purpose, and consists of a com- 
mon scooter plow or bull tongue with wings attached three 
or four inches above the tip, and set in such a way as to 
pass just beneath the surface and throw a little ridge of 
fresh earth close to the stems of the plants. They often, 
when skillfully used, clean the surface so thoroughly that 
the hoes can pass over the crop very rapidly. Sometimes 
early in the month of July, on a good soil, the plants will 
be so far advanced that the branches will touch and per- 
haps lock across the middles. Many planters think that 
little is gained by running the plows after the crop attains 
this growth, but the more the ground is stirred, if lightly, 
the more readily will the heat of the sun penetrate the soil 
and fall upon the roots of the young plant, and this is what 



I02 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

is required to hasten their development ; but the cultiva- 
tion must vary with the season and condition of the soil. 
As a rule the cultivation further north should be discon- 
tinued sooner than south, since, if the plants get a check, 
they will blossom earlier and the crop thus be saved from 
frost. 

Destroying Insects. — Insect depredators are a great 
drawback to the successful cultivation of cotton. They 
must be carefully watched for and destroyed. For those 
which feed on the foliage, spraying by hose, with a mixture 
of Paris green, arsenic or London purple. The last is 
probably best, as it more easily mixes with water. On 
small fields the poison may be applied by hand, mixed with 
damaged flour, by dusting from a suitable can. One pound 
of Paris green, or rather more of London purple, to a 
barrel (forty gallons) of water is sufficient ; or, one pound 
of London purple to thirty pounds of flour. The poison 
must be pure and of known strength. 

Flax and its Cultivation. 



A CONSIDERATION of the Cultivation of flax naturally 
follows that of cotton, not because it is next in importance 
as a textile crop, for in the United States hemp holds that 
place; but because in seed and fiber it is germane thereto. 
The fiber has been used only since the introduction of 
machinery for making coarse tow and twine, the seed being 
the principal object. So much hand labor is required that 
the fine lint will be little used until the population of the 
country becomes more dense. 

The Seed. — In the West, however, it is a favorite crop 
on new lands remote from market, since the price of the 
seed renders transportation over great distances practi- 
cable. In 1850 the production of flaxseed was 562,000 
bushels; in 1S60, 611,000; in 1870, 2,500,000, and the 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. IO3 

Straw was estimated as equal to the production of 75",ooo,- 
000 pounds of fiber. 

The Fiber. — This in coarse bagging would cover, as 
baHng, the whole cotton crop of the country. The textile 
strength of flax is rated as double that of East India jute, 
and yet not one-fifth of the flax crop is utilized, although 
there are many mills in the West for working the straw, 
the reason being that other lines of manufacture are more 
profitable. It is, however, an important product for the 
seed alone, the crop of 1881 being computed at 8,000,000 
bushels, from 1,127,300 acres, an average yield of a frac- 
tion over seven bushels of seed per acre. Over 800,000 
acres of this being in the States of Iowa, Indiana, Kansas 
and Illinois. 

PROPER SOIL FOR FLAX SEEDING. 

It has been said that good barley land is good flax 
land. This means that flax likes a deep, open, warm, 
moist loam. In the West, new prairie and old turf lands 
are much used. Recent timber clearings are desirable if 
suitably drained, or any good corn land, or rich silicious 
soil in good tilth. Flax will grow well in any moist, deep, 
strong loam, upon upland. A light, sandy soil should be 
avoided, as well as very low lands or river bottoms, upon 
which flax is very liable to mildew. Flax should be put in 
after some hoed crop, to be free from weeds. A weedy 
soil, in any location, should not be thought of in connection 
with flax, even when raised for seed alone. If fiber is also 
an object, the time and labor will be wasted on such land. 

Preparing the Soil. — On old land it is better that a 
pretty deep plowing be given in the autumn, and the area 
lightly re-plowed just before sowing. For the fiber, deep 
plowing is essential. To strengthen the fiber, three or 
four bushels each of superphosphate of lime, plaster, ashes 
and salt should be applied per acre. The soil must be 
brought into the best possible tilth, the seed sown evenly. 



I04 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

and Covered not more than half an inch deep. The usual 
•quantity to be sown per acre, when seed alone is the ob- 
ject, is from one-half bushel to three pecks. One bushel 
per acre has given us the best results, since the ground is 
quickly covered and the crops ripen more evenly. 

Selecting the Seed. — The quality of the seed must be 
looked to. It should be clean, bright and heavy. The 
best time to sow flax is just prior to that of corn-planting, 
or when the trees are beginning to green. A change of 
seed is necessary, since, in the West, the oily qualities 
rapidly deteriorate. East India seed is said to be the 
richest in oil, and ne.xt, that from Riga (Russian), and Rot- 
terdam (Holland), is recommended. 

Quantity of Seed to Sow. — If lint and seed both are the 
object, one and one-half to two bushels should be used. In 
Europe, where fine lint is raised, three and even four bush- 
els are sometimes sown. In this country, however, where 
the principal object is seed, one and one-half bushels to the 
acre is the maximum. The yield-will always vary with the 
season and the quality of the land. The maximum may be 
stated at twenty-five bushels, but half this quantity per 
acre is an average even on rich soil. 

HARVESTING FLAX. 

The time to harvest is when the lower portions of the 
stalk turn yellow, or when the seed-bolls show signs of 
shedding. Cut with a reaper that will rake off in gavels, 
since it is not necessary to bind it, the idea being to cure 
it as quickly as possible. Set the gavels up, one leaning 
against another, in regular rows sufficiently far apart for 
a wagon to pass between. 

Thresh with a machine having beaters instead of teeth, 
since the straw is apt to tangle in the latter. 

If the seed is not sold immediately, it should be spread 
and turned occasionally until fully dry, or it will heat. 

If the straw is to be sold for tow, it should be spread. 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. 10$ 

in October, the product of about two to three acres upon 
one of grass land (unless very heavy), and then left until 
ready for the mill, say a month or longer. The water- 
rotting of flax for fine fiber requires much labor, pools of 
soft (river or pond) water, and much manipulation. There 
is, however, so little likelihood that the preparation of 
water-rotted flax will soon become an" industry of import- 
ance in the United States, that the directions are not worth 
the space necessary for description. 



Hemp and its Cultivation. 



Like that of flax, the hemp industry may be said to be 
declining. When great navies of sailing vessels traversed 
the ocean, vast quantities of linen were used for sails, and 
of hemp for cordage. Steam has decreased the number of 
sails, and most of them now in use are more cheaply made 
from cotton, and the fibers of other plants, and iron cordage 
has largely taken the place of hemp. In some portions of 
the country, however, it is still an industry of some import- 
ance, but water-rotting of hemp is not practiced in the 
United States, on account of the labor required in the 
process. When intended for lint it is simply dew-rotted. 

The Soil for Hemp. — The soil for hemp must be rich, 
deep, warm, loamy, and well drained — such land as will 
produce, with good cultivation, fifty or more bushels of corn 
per acre. The seed will ripen perfectly up to forty degrees 
of latitude, and usually up to forty-three degrees in the 
Mississippi valley. The cultivation of the crop for seed is 
practiced in some sections, and with profit. 

RAISING A CROP OF HEMP SEED. 

Land intended for seed must be in good tilth and well 
prepared by careful plowing. It should be laid off in straight 
rows, four feet apart each way, and planted in hills seven or. 



I06 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

eight seeds to the hill ; the same rules observed for culti- 
vating corn will apply in the after-culture of hemp seed; 
when the plants reach the height of six or eight inches, they 
should be thinned to from three to four plants. 

Male and Fcjuale Plants. — Hemp plants are divided into 
male and female, the former producing the pollen or im- 
pregnating powder, the latter bearing the seed. A very 
little observation will enable the grower to distinguish 
between them. As soon as the distinction can be made, 
the male should be drawn up by the root, when cheap labor 
can be had, leaving, however, here and there, one that the 
female plant may be properly impregnated ; the female is to 
be retained until its seeds are perfected, when it is to be 
harvested by cutting at the ground and removal to cover; 
when cured, the seed may be threshed with a flail, cleaned, 
winnowed, and put up in barrels or sacks, perfectly dry, 
and out of the way of rats and mice until sold. 

RAISING HEMP FOR LINT. 

If lint is the object, it is necessary that the seed be 
raised as directed in the preceding section, for the lint crop 
is cut before the seed is formed. The soil must be pre- 
pared by deep and careful plowing, as directed for flax, and 
as carefully brought into a state of perfect tilth. 

The ground must be free from weeds, or once carefully 
weeded by hand after the crop is up. Sow from fifty to 
seventy pounds of seed per acre, preferably from a broad- 
cast seeder, or from a centrifugal seeder, to insure even 
distribution. 

The seed should not be covered more than half an inch, 
and it is better, after sowing, to roll the land with a light 
roller. The sowing should take place at or immediately 
before corn-planting time. The plant, after it is up, is not 
affected by light frosts, but the seed itself is liable to rot in 
cold ground. In good weather the plants will show in a 
few days. 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. IO7 

THE TIME TO }IARVEST HEMP. 

When lint is the object, as is always the case in thick 
sowings, the time for cutting is indicated in two ways: i, 
the crop changes from a deep green to a paler hue; and, 2, 
the leaves die and drop, beginning at the bottom. Hemp 
is of two sexes, as before stated. The male plants bear 
the pollen and the female plants the seed, as in the case of 
spinach. That is dioecious, having staminate and pistillate 
flowers on distinct plants. The male plants ripen two 
weeks before the female. 

In the United States, the pulling of the male plants 
before the female ripens, costs more than will pay the 
benefit. A good indication of the time for cutting is given 
by the pollen of male plants rising in clouds from the field. 

Ctctting. — The cutting is usually done by a heavy hook 
made for the purpose, but large, level fields may be cut by 
a reaping machine, made especially for this use. J. L. 
Bradford, of Kentucky, a noted hemp raiser, thus describes 
the process of harvesting, rotting and breaking : If the 
crop is to be cut with the hook, the operator is required to 
cut at once through a width corresponding to the length 
of the hemp, and as close to the ground as possible, spread- 
ing his hemp in his rear in an even and smooth swath, 
where it remains exposed to the sun's rays until the stalk 
is properly cured, and the leaves sufficiently dry to detach 
easily. 

The hemp can be shocked with more compactness with- 
out the leaves than with them, and any operation having 
an influence upon the future security of the staple from 
dampness or atmospheric influence, is certainly important; 
the perfect detachment of all the leaves should, then, in 
nowise be omitted. No time should be lost, after the stalk 
is cured, in getting the crop up and into neat shocks; 
every additional day's exposure to sun, wind, rain or dew, 
is deteriorating its quality and subtracting from its quaatity. 
The brighter the stock can be secured, the better. 



I08 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ROTTING AND BREAKING FOR MARKET. 

The same rule will apply to hemp that obtains in secur- 
ing good hay. The operator, in taking up the hemp, uses 
a crook, often a rude stick cut from the branches of the 
nearest tree, about the length and weight of a heavy hick- 
ory walking-cane, having at the end of the stick a small 
branch making a hook. With this primitive but very 
effective tool he can rapidly draw the stalks into bunches 
of the proper size for sheaves. In operating, he throws 
his rude hook forward to its full length and suddenly draws 
it toward him, each motion making a bunch. This he 
raises quickly from the ground, and with his hook, by a few 
well-directed strokes, divests the plant of its leaves. He 
then binds his sheaf with its own stalks, and passes on to 
repeat the operation. 

Shocking. — Other laborers follow and place the hemp 
into neat, close shocks of convenient size, securing the top 
by a neat band made of the hemp stalks themselves, after 
the manner of shocking corn. Here it is suffered to remain 
until the whole crop is thus secured as soon as possible, 
selecting clear, dry weather for the operation. The whole 
crop is to be secured by ricking or stacking. The same 
rules are to be observed in stacking as with grain, the 
object being to keep the crop secure and dry until the 
proper time for rotting arrives. In the latitude of Ken- 
tucky about the middle of October is the proper time. The 
crop must be retained in the rick or stack until the summer 
heats and rain have passed, and frost appears instead of 
dew. 

Rotting. — The whole crop is then removed from the 
rick, and hauled back to the same ground on which it grew, 
there to be spread in thin swaths for rotting, where it 
remains without turning until properly rotted. This is 
indicated by the fiber freely parting from the stalk, and the 
dissolution by the action of the elements of the peculiar 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. IO9 

substance that causes it to adhere thereto. This stage is 
only to be learned to perfection by practical experience ; 
yet the novice must have some information to enable him 
to begin, and it is easily acquired by a little observation. 

Bunching. — When the operator finds his hemp suffi- 
ciently rotted, the wooden hook is again brought into re- 
quisition for once more drawing the swaths into convenient 
bunches. The hemp will have lost much of its weight, and 
can be bunched and shocked with less labor than at first ; 
besides, at this last shocking, the binding is to be omitted 
entirely, the hemp is to be carefully and neatly handled, all 
tangling to be avoided, and placed again in shocks, and 
firmly bound at the top. 

Breaking and Dressing. — Then comes the last and 
crowning operation — breaking and dressing the fiber or 
lint for the market. The peculiar break to be used, like 
the knife or hook for cutting, needs no description, being 
manufactured in hemp regions, at a cost of about five 
dollars each, and from long experience has been found per- 
fectly adapted to the uses required. The beginner would 
save time and money by ordering a sample break, from 
which any carpenter can manufacture as desired. 

The crop is broken in Kentucky and Missouri, directly 
from the shock in the open field by the removal of the 
break from shock to shock as fast as broken. In the North, 
owing to the severity of the climate, it would probably be 
necessary to remove the rotted hemp to the barn, where 
the labor of breaking could be more certainly performed. 
The coldest and clearest weather is the best for this oper- 
ation ; in fact, excess of dampness in the atmosphere 
suspends this labor altogether. The breaking process is 
laborious, yet more depends on the skill than on the 
strength of the laborer. 

CONCLUSIONS ON FLAX AND HEMP. 

The rich lands of the corn zone of the West are far 
better adapted to the cultivation of hemp for the fibre than 



no THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

more southern latitudes. If water-rotting- were practiced, 
the fiber would undoubtedly be the best in the world. 
Ponds and streams are plentiful, and the high price of 
ordinary unskilled labor is the only thing against this pro- 
cess. Other crops, however, are as yet more profitable in 
this region, and will continue so to be until the population 
becomes dense enough to cheapen labor. Therefore we 
do not advise the raising of either flax or hemp for fine 
fiber. Both flax and hemp-raising for the seed are profit- 
able, to a limited extent, up to, and even above, the 
fortieth degree of latitude. 



Jute and Its Cultivation. 



Jute is a piant known in the South for years, under 
experimental cultivation. It belongs to the mallow family. 
The fiber is in many respects superior to that of hemp. 
When American skill and ingenuity shall have found means 
to prepare the fiber cheaply for the loom, the cultivation of 
this plant will be a source of great wealth in the South. 
The time may soon come when the fibers can be cheaply 
separated. 

Jute [Coochrrus) is an annual, the two species culti- 
vated in the United States being C. capsular is and C. oli- 
otrious, the first named being the better. The plants grow 
from five to seven feet high, and the quantity of seed sown, 
broadcast, is, on rich land, prepared as for flax or hemp, 
from fifteen to twenty-two pounds per acre. The plants 
are cut about three inches above ground, one month before 
the seed ripens. 

The best fiber is raised on deeply-drained, moist, rich 
land. The seed should be sown as directed for hemp: 
that is, evenly distributed. The produce is all the way 
from 2,000 to 4,000 pounds per acre. The Gulf States con- 
tain the region best adapted to the cultivation of jute. 



TEXTILE CROPS AND FIBERS. Ill 

which is thus described by a planter of Louisiana, one of 
the pioneers in its cultivation : 

GROWTH AND HARVESTING OF JUTE. 

The ground being well tilled and the seed properly 
sown, on wet days if possible, the jute is left alone like 
wheat. No other care than that of drainage is necessary 
until maturity. The cost of that first operation cannot 
exceed four dollars per acre, if the material is adequate 
and the management judicious. That expense, of course, 
does not include the value of the seed, because, after the 
first outlay, planters will provide themselves with it from 
the low lands, or from the weak spots of the plantation. 
In the bottom, when we plant in drills for seed, a subse- 
quent plowing or two will be necessary in the intervals to 
neutralize the encroachments of grass. In Louisiana that 
labor is a necessity principally for the purpose of combating 
the tall weed called wild indigo, which occupies the low 
grounds. That weed, also fibrous, is the only plant that 
keeps pace in growth with jute ; all other plants are dis- 
tanced and smothered by the shade of the jute. In the 
field, planted broadcast, no parasite can resist the vigorous 
and absorbing influence of jute. Even the hardy and nox- 
ious plant commonly called coco in Louisiana is destroyed 
after two seasons of broadcast cultivation. 

Harvesting. — The best period for cutting crops of jute 
is during the stage that precedes the blossoming, or, at 
least, the seeding. The fiber is then fine, white and 
strong. The monthly sowing graduates the maturing of 
the successive crops, which facilitates labor. April plant- 
ing can be harvested in July, May planting in August, and 
June planting in September. Any late growth can be 
harvested in October, and even after, if no frost interferes. 
The plant stands green until frost dries it up ; but even 
then it can furnish a good material for paper. The cut- 
ting operation is done with a mower or reaper. The 



112 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

albumen of the plant makes it easier to cut than dry wheat. 
The reaper gathering the stems, bundles are made and 
carried as fast as possible to the mill, where the textile is 
rapidly separated. 

PREPARING JUTE FIBER. 

As fast as the fiber is turned out by the decorticating 
machine it is plunged into large vats filled with pure water, 
and left exposed to the heat of the atmosphere. Kept 
under at least one foot of water, the filament is disinte- 
grated by the dissolution of the gums or resins which 
united it in a sort of ribbon. That process of fermentation 
or rotting takes about a week in summer. With care and 
attention to the proper degree of rotting, the fiber comes 
out almost white, lustrous, and fine like flax. The 
disintegration is known to be complete when the fiber 
assumes a pasty character. 

Then the rotted hanks are withdrawn, carefully washed 
in clear water, and hung up to dry in the shade. Care 
must be taken that the filament be well covered with water 
during the fermenting period, because atmospheric agencies 
tend to communicate to it a brownish color. After a few 
days of good weather it is ready to be shaken and twisted 
for baling like other textiles. That new process of rotting 
the separated filament, instead of whole stalks, combines 
different profitable results — the advantage of economy in 
labor, in value, and also in integrity of product. 

Experiments in South Carolina, Florida and the Gulf 
States have shown that, wherever in the Southern States 
there is a hot, damp climate, and a moist soil of sandy clay 
or alluvial mold, jute can be profitably raised. April plant- 
ings were cut in July, and the June plantings in September. 
Some of the stalks reached the height of fifteen feet, and 
the yield was in several cases at the rate of 3,500 pounds 
to the acre, yet this probably is an exception. 



SpGGmc Grgps- 



Hop Growing in America. 



V I yHE hop prevents fermentation, and adds an agreeable 
e-^bitter to beer, ale and porter. To these qualities it 
owes its commercial value, England, Germany, Austria and 
the United States being the principal sources of supply. 
In 1840, the quantity produced in the United States was 
1,238,502 pounds. In 1850, this had increased to 3,496,850 
pounds, of which the State of New Yorkalone gave 2,536, - 
299 pounds. In i860, i i;Oio,oi2 pounds were grown ; and 
two years later, the crop -exceeded 16,000,000 pounds. 

About this time. Western farmers awoke to the profits 
of hop culture, and,, in 1867, the crop had, in some parts of 
this region, reached enormous proportions. Wisconsin, 
which has much valley land favorable to the cultivation, 
produced, during the year named, 7,000,000 pounds, of 
which Sauk County alone gave 4,000,000, worth $2,500,000. 

In 1869, the hop crop of the United States was no less 
than 25,456,669 pounds ; and from that time the acreage 
steadily increased. In 1876, it was over 60,000 acres, 
almost equaling that of England, then the greatest hop- 
producing country of the globe. In 1877, the year of 
largest production, the yield was 110,000 bales, of which 
95,000 bales were exported. The acreage of the great 
hop-growing countries is as follows : United States, 
about 70,000 acres ; England, from 68,000 to 70,000 acres ; 
Continental Europe, 76,000 acres. The year 1878 was a 
disastrous one to hop-raisers, insects and meteorological 
conditions combining to ruin much of the crop. 

COST OF RAISING. 

In the West, the product has often been enormous, 
1,000 pounds per acre not being unusual, and the cost to 



114 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ihe farmer as low as six cents a pound. In the Eastern 
States, the cost varies from twelve to fifteen cents, while in 
Kent the famous hop district of England, the average cost 
of producing one hundred pounds is estimated at $24.30, 
or twenty-four and one-third cents per pound. The fol- 
lowing figures, given by a prominent hop -grower in Sauk 
County, Wisconsin, in the flush time of 1876, will explain 
the epidemic in the West. The hop-yard contained four 
acres, the capital invested, including land, fixtures, poles, 
kilns, presses, etc., was $2,000. For 1877, his second year, 
his statement is as follows: Interest on capital, ten per 
cent., $200; cultivation, setting poles, etc., $100; harvest- 
ing, curing, etc.. $943 ; total expenses, $1,243. Receipts 
for 11,520 pounds of hops, at sixty cents per pound, 
$6,912 ; net receipts for hop roots, $3,040; total receipts, 
$9,952 ; net receipts, $8,709, or 435 per cent, on original 
investment. 

ESTABLISHING A HOP YARD. 

The principal reasons for failures of the hop crop, in 
the West, especially, are inexperience in the preparation 
of the land, careless cultivation, and the neglect of prompt 
measures to prevent the depredations of insects. A crop 
of hops pays a large sum of money per acre, apd much 
labor must be spent to get it. The hop plant is always 
propogated by sets, or sections of the roots, and never 
from the seeds unless the operator wishes some new 
variety. 

THE PROPER SITUATION AND SOIL. 

Never put the hop yard in a situation where there is 
not a free circulation of air, and at the same time exemp- 
tion from violent winds. Avoid all cold, tenacious, poor 
or wet soils. Any of these will cause failure. In England 
the best hops are produced in the Farnham district, upon 
the outcrop of the upper green-sand, and on a deep 
diluvial loam lying in the valleys beneath ; in East Kent, 
upon a rich, deep loam, resting upon the upper chalk and 



SPECIAL CROPS. 1 1 5 

plastic clay; in Mid Kent, upon the ragstone rock of the 
lower green-sand ; in West Kent, chiefly upon an outcrop 
of the upper green-sand and gault, and in the Hill Grounds 
upon the upper chalk ; in the Weald of Kent and Sussex, 
upon Hastings sand of the Wealden formation ; and in the 
Worcester district upon the marls of the new red sand- 
stone. 

In the United States a deep, rich, sandy loam, tolerably 
firm, thoroughly well drained, rich in lime, the phosphates, 
potash and humus, is the best — soil that will produce 
large crops of wheat, and one that will not heave from 
freezing and thawing. If you' have these conditions, or 
can make those you do not naturally have, including pro- 
tection, "go ahead." If not, "go slow." 

PREPARING FOR THE CROP. * 

The best English authorities have established the fol- 
lowing rules in preparing the soil for hops, setting and 
cultivating, which we have adapted to American practice: 
Having chosen the site for a new plantation, the ground is 
trenched, or subsoil-plowed, and the holes dug, early in 
October. The plants are raised by cutting off the layers, 
or shoots, of the preceding year. These should have 
been bedded out in the preceding March or April, in 
ground previously trenched and well manured, which, by 
autumn, will have become what are termed "nursery 
plants," or bedded sets; or the cuttings themselves are 
planted out the same year ; but this plan is not recom- 
mended, although less expensive, since, in a dry spring, 
there is great risk of their dying. 

If the nursery plants be used, it is desirable to set them 
early. When cuttings are used, they are planted in 
squares, or triangles, at equal distances, generally from 
six to seven feet apart. The triangular planting possesses 
an advantage over the square, as, when three poles to a 
hill are employed, it allows the hop cultivator more com- 



Il6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

pletely to move all the ground on the outside of the poles, 
whiclr is a matter of some importance. With regard to 
distances, as a general rule, six feet is preferred for square 
planting, and six and one-half feet for triangular. For 
very fertile grounds the distances are further increased, 
sometimes to nine feet in square planting, having poles 
from twenty to thirty feet in length. In all these matters, 
however, the exercise of judgment is required. 

SETTING THE PLANTS. 

If nursery or bedded sets are employed, one, two or 
three plants may be used to form a hill, according to the 
strength of the plants. One is sufficient, if it be a large, 
strong, healthy plant, and if great pains and attention be 
bestowed upon the subsequent management. When cut- 
tings are used, it is safest to plant five to each hill, which 
should be dibbled in around one as a center. Each cutting 
should have an inch of earth between it and its fellow. In 
the planting of new grounds attention should be paid to the 
introduction of a sufficient number of the male plants. One 
hill in two hundred, or about six on an acre, are considered 
ample. They ought to be planted at regular and known 
intervals, in order that, in subsequent years, the cuttings 
saved from these grounds may not become indiscriminately 
mixed. The introduction of these male plants is a matter 
of extreme importance, and ought on no account to be 
neglected; for it is an established and indisputable fact that 
the grounds which possess them are more prolific, and bring 
the hops of maturity earlier than those plantations which 
are deficient in them, and, in addition to these advantages, 
the hops are of a better qualit). 

The subsequent cultivation of a new plantation requires 
constant attention. The ground must always be kept quite 
clear of weeds, and should have a good depth of pulverized 
soil. In the latter part of the spring a light pole about six 
or seven feet high above ground should be placed to each 
hill, if planted with " nurseries," and about four feet high if 



SPECIAL CROPS. 117 

planted with cuttings ; to these, the young vines, as they 
shoot out during the summer, must be tied up. At the end 
of May, or the beginning of June, unless the ground is new 
and rich, a dressing of guano and superphosphate of lime 
should be applied, at the rate of 300 pounds of the former 
and 100 pounds of the latter per acre. This should be 
placed in equal quantities around each hill and hoed in, tak- 
ing care not to allow any of the mixture to come in contact 
with the plant. Another and similar manuring should be 
applied in July, and after this the hills should be earthed 
about six inches. The above quantities of fertilizers may 
appear extravagant, but it must be borne in mind that young 
hops cannot be too strong ; for, unless they be very strong, 
they will not come into full bearing the next year. This 
recommendation is the result of a long and extensive 
experience. The cost, too, is often repaid in the same year, 
by the growth of 200 or 300 pounds of hops per acre. 
When the hops from these nursery grounds are picked, the 
vines must not be cut, but the hops must be gathered from 
the sticks, as they stand, into small baskets. The vines 
and poles of this young plantation should not be removed 
until late in autumn, or when the plants have entirely ceased 
growing. Whatever the age, nothing should be done ex- 
cept when the soil will work in a perfectly friable condition. 
It is especially dangerous to the crop to work the soil when 
wet. 

In the West, where land is not so valuable as in Eng- 
land or the Eastern States, we advise wide planting. It 
gives greater ventilation and ease of horse cultivation. In 
England, where the climate is moist, planting is done in 
raised hills. In the West, if the land is well drained, level 
cultivation is best. Dwarf varieties should be selected, 
since they are richer in the constituents which make hops 
valuable. 

In setting the plants, manure should not be put in the 
hill, especially new, unfermented barn-yard manure, but a 



Il8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

richer soil may be added on thoroughly worked old com- 
post if the ground is not rich. The roots of the sets should 
be spread out carefully, fine mold put around them, the 
soil pressed firmly and the earth heaped over them. Eac? 
hill should have two poles. In England the number is 
determined by the kind of hop. The Farnham, Canter- 
bury White, and the Goldings are strong growers: and 
require large poles, from fourteen to twenty feet long. The 
Grape varieties are smaller and need poles not exceeding 
ten to fourteen feet in length. 

CARE OF THE HOP YARD. 

Lay out the ground in regular rows seven or eight feet 
apart by plowing or checking perfectly straight furrows 
each way. Manure should not be used in the hill when 
setting the hops, but, if necessary, very rich earth may be 
added. It is usual to place five cuttings in a hill. Three 
plants may be allowed for the distances here given, though 
two plants to stand are enough. The first year the yard 
may be planted with corn, potatoes, or any similar crop, 
between the vines, the hops being tied temporarily to short 
poles as previously directed, and the cultivation may be 
hill or flat according to the drainage or other features of 
the field. In well-drained soils not too retentive, flat cul- 
ture is the best. In the autumn two good shovelsful of 
well-rotted compost manure over the crowns will serve to 
protect the plants during winter, besides enriching the 
soil and giving the plants a vigorous start in the spring. 



Cultivation in Crop Years. 

After the first season, the hops should occupy the 
whole soil. Two poles are allowed to each hill ; these 
should be sharpened true and set deep enough with the bar 
to prevent danger from being blown down when weighted 
with hops. They are better if inclined apart at the tops. 



SPECIAL CROPS. 



119 



When the hops appear above ground, two of the best 
should be selected for each pole, and, "when they reach a 
height of two feet, be tied thereto with stocking-yarn, bast, 
prepared rushes, or other suitable material. All other 
vines should be cut just beneath the surface of the ground. 
The cultivation is simply to keep the surface of the soil 
clean and mellow, to destroy all weeds and supernumerary 
vines that may appear, to tie the vines to the pole until 
they twine and support themselves, and to watch for and 
destroy all insects that may appear. 



Picking the Hops. 



The English rule is that the hops are ripe when the 
seed has changed from a bright straw color to a pale brown, 




HOP DRYING KILN. 



and emits its peculiar fragrance. Another rule is to pick 
when the hop becomes hard and crisp to the touch ; when 
the extreme petal projects prominently at the tip of the hop, 
when the color is changed from a light silvery green to a 
deep primrose or yellow ; and when, on opening the flower, 
the cuticle of the seeds is of a purple color, and the kernel, 
or seed itself, hard, like a nut. Even after the hop has 



I20 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



attained a lightish-brown color no real injury to its quality 
will have accrued, and, for many purposes, such hops are 
most esteemed in the market; but after the hops generally 
attain a dark-brown hue there will be a great loss, both in 
quality and weight. When in a proper stage of ripeness, 
four pounds of undried hops will make one of dry, and five 
pounds, scarcely ripe, are required to make one when dried. 
Before picking time the hop-grower should secure all neces- 
sary aid ; and that aid, when promised, under no circum- 
stances should fail, as it so often does in the harvesting of 
other crops. The hops are commonly picked in large 
boxes, containing from twenty-four to forty bushels. These 
boxes are divided lengthwise by a thin partition, and then 
subdivided into quarters. They are raised a little from the 
ground, and have handles at the ends. 

One man and four girls are allowed to each bo.x. Each 
hand deposits the hops in his or her own division of the 
box, and a good hand can pick twenty bushels in a day 
without difficulty. They are generally paid by the quan- 
tity, at so much for the box-full. It is the business of the 
man to supply the boxes with poles, which he raises from 
the ground as needed, cutting the vines about a foot high; 
to see that the picking is properly done, to remove the 
empty poles, clear them of the vines, and stack them in a 
systematic manner. In picking, the hops should be kept 
free from stems and leaves, and all blasted or immature 
ones should be rejected. The boxes should be emptied at 
least once a day; at all events, no hops should be left in 
the boxes over night. 

The picking finished, the poles are stacked wigwam 
fashion and bound at the tops, or else stacked so that 
nothing but the lower ends will appear; they must be kept 
from the ground. 

DRYING THE HOPS. 

In California and other dry, sunny climates, hops are 
sometimes dried in the sun, but in the end it is everywhere 



SPECIAL CROPS. 121 

cheaper to build a kiln or dry-house. This may be a sim- 
ple affair, the lower room containing a stove, with as much 
radiating pipe as possible, and a room above with a slotted 
floor, upon which the hops are dried on cloths. A regular 
kiln, such as is used for curing malt, is better, when char- 
coal, coke or anthracite coal can be used for fuel. Hops 
being from three-fourths to four-fifths water, soon spoil if 
kept in bulk in a green state. Hence the kiln is worked 
day and night, and the hops pressed into bales, of two 
hundred pounds each, as soon as dry. 

The Drying Kiln. — The best form of kiln for drying 
hops is undoubtedly one square and tight to prevent the 
escape of the heated air except at the ventilator in the roof. 
Paper orifices, regulated by sliding doors, are left near the 
ground to admit cool air to be warmed. The heat for ordi- 
nary farm use may be stoves, with plenty of pipe running 
around the heating-room. The illustration shows a dry- 
house twenty-two by thirty-two feet, with a kiln sixteen by 
sixteen feet. The stove-room is twelve by twenty-two, 
and two and one-half feet lower than the level of the kiln. 
The drying-floor should be ten feet from the ground, so 
that there may be no danger of scorching the hops in dry- 
ing. This floor is formed of slats about one and a half inch 
each in width, and the same distance from each other. 
They are covered with a strong, coarse cloth, of open text- 
ure, so as to admit of a free transmission of the heated air 
from the kiln below. The drying-room should be of com- . 
fortable height for a person to work in it, and the sides 
should be lathed and plastered so that there may be no 
irregularity of the heat in the different portions of the room 
in high winds. 

The cloth for the drying-floor should be well stretched 
over the slats and firmly nailed. On this floor the hops are 
spread to the depth of six or eight inches. The proper 
thickness will depend somewhat on the condition of the 
hops; if they are very full of moisture, they should be laid 



122 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

on quite thin; but if gathered when fully ripe, and in fine 
weather, a depth often inch.es will be allowed. 

Management in the Kiln, 



The hops being spread as evenly as possible, the fires 
are immediately kindled in the kiln, and the temperature 
regulated to one uniform degree of heat. This, however, 
may be quite high at first, as there will be but little danger 
of scorching the hops if the floor is sufficiently high. If 
the hops are rusty, or discolored from any other cause, it 
is usual to burn a little sulphur under them, which will 
bring them to a uniform appearance. This is done as soon 
as the hops are well warmed through, and feel somewhat 
moist. Great prejudice formerly existed against the use 
of sulphur in drying hops, but no objection is now made 
by the brewers, and it is generally thought that the use of 
it improves the appearance of all hops, and that it also 
facilitates the drying. During the drying process the fires 
should be kept up, and there should be a free supply of 
fresh air below, sufficient to keep up a regular succession 
of heated air from the kiln, passing through the hops and 
out at the ventilator, carrying with it the vapor expelled 
from the drying hops. 

Dried by Hot Air. — Mr. Morton, the well-known Eng- 
lish authority, states the principal points in drying hops. 
The great object with the hop-drier, he says, is to get rid 
of the condensed vapor from the green hops as quickly as 
possible, and the dry-houses should be so constructed as to 
effect this object perfectly. It must be borne in mind that 
hops should be dried by currents of heated air passing 
rapidly through them, and not by radiation of heat. This 
is a distinction of the utmost importance, since success is 
entirely dependent upon a strict adherence to the former 
principle. In order to accomplish this effect, the space 



SPECIAL CROPS. 123 

above the hops must be kept hot, and all the lower parts 
of the kiln cold, whereby the greater density of the cold 
air will force the rarified air above, carrying with it the 
vapor from the hops, through the aperture or cowls upon 
the summit of the building. To aid this ascent of the 
heated air passing through the hops, a stream of heated 
air is sometimes thrown above the hops through a tube, 
thus adding greatly to the heat of the current passing 
through the hops, and giving it a greater ascending power. 
After Drying. — When sufficiently dried the hops 
should be allowed to cool off a little, if time can be 
afforded, otherwise there will be great danger that they 
will break in moving, or a portion of them shell off and 
waste. Ten or twelve hours are required to dry a kiln of 
hops. Two !:ilns may be dried in twenty-four hours by 
keeping the heat up through the night. A twenty-foot 
kiln will thus dry four hundred bushels in a day, as they 
come from the vines, making about seven hundred and 
fifty pounds of hops when dry. Do not let the heat 
slacken, but rather increase it, until the hops are nearly 
dried, lest the moisture and sweat which the fire has raised 
fall back and discolor the hops. For these reasons chiefly 
it is that no cool air should be suffered to come into the 
kiln while the hops are drying. After the hops, have lain 
about seven, eight or nine hours, having left off sweating, 
and leap up when beaten with a stick, then turn them with 
a malt shovel or scoop made for that purpose ; let them 
remain in this situation for two or three hours more, until 
every hop is equally dried. They must not be turned 
while they sweat, for that will scorch and cause them to 
lose their color; the fire may be diminished a little before 
they are turned, and renewed again afterwards ; the heat 
should be kept as equal as possible. It may be of service 
to use a thermometer, by marking upon it the degree of 
heat proper for drying hops, as soon as that degree is 
ascertained by experiment. 



124 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The Cooling-Room. — Mistakes are often exceedingly 
detrimental to the hops, and great attention is required by 
the drier, night and day, until finished. When they are 
thoroughly dry, which is known by the brittleness of the 
inner stalk (if rubbed and it breaks short), the fire should 
be put out and the hops taken from the kiln into the 
cooling-room. Here they should be spread out, not 
exceeding twelve inches in depth, and in a day or two will 
be ready to bale. Care should be taken to exclude a dry- 
ing air from the cooling-room. The hops being dried, the 
next process is to bale them. This should not be done 
immediately after they are taken from the kiln, but they 
should be allowed to lie a few days in the store-room, till 
they become a little softened, otherwise their extreme 
brittleness will cause them to be much broken in baling, 
and the sample be thereby greatly injured. 

We have been particular in describing all the minutae of 
cultivating, curing and baling hops, for they are imporaant. 
No one should undertake this industry unless he is prepared 
to carry out the directions to the minutest detail. 



The Cultivation of Tobacco. 

The tobacco crop of the United States is every year 
increasing in importance, and it is the belief of the writer, 
that in the valleys of some of the hill regions of the South 
will yet be found soils that will produce leaf equal to 
Havana tobacco. The product is sought the world over. 
It is one of the great money crops of the United States, 
and its area of production is constantly spreading wherever 
suitable soils are found, from Massachusetts to California, 
and from Wisconsin to the Gulf States. To show the 
value of the tobacco crop it may be mentioned that in 1869 
the crop of the United States amounted to about 324,000,- 
CXX3 pounds against, in round numbers, 412,000,000 pounds 



SPECIAL CROPS. 



125 




Tobacco Plant Properly Set. 



in 1870; 410,000,000 in 1871 ; 505,000,000 in 1872; 502,- 
000,000 in 1873 ; 358,000,000 in 1874; 520,000,000 in 1875 ; 
482,000,000 in 1876; and 581,500,000 in 1877. Afterwards 
this enormous production fell off, and in 1880 it was 446,- 
296,889 pounds, worth $36,414,615. 

It is not safe for farmers to rush into 
the business unless they have a soil and 
climate suited to the crop, and have also 
informed themselves thoroughly upon the 
best modes of cultivation and manage- 
ment. Proper houses for curing and 
packing the tobacco must also be pro- 
vided. The plant will ripen wherever 
the Concord grape will, but it does not 
therefore follow that any soil that will 
produce the Concord grape will produce 
good tobacco. There is no plant that is 
more susceptible to influences of soil and situation than 
tobacco. 

SOILS AND SITUATIONS FOR TOBACCO. 

Tobacco requires a deep, rich, thoroughly drained, 
friable soil, strong in potash and nitre. A rich humus loam 
is usually rich in these constituents, if it be produced from 
a granite soil. Sandy loams are preferable, but whatever 
the soil, the situation must be protected from sudden changes 
of temperature, and especially from blowing winds, which 
would bruise the delicate leaves by whipping them about. 
Hence, protected valleys are always sought. 

If the soil is not naturally rich in potash, nitrogen and 
the phosphates, it must be made so. Valley lands, pro- 
tected from high winds, are excellent, and if manure can be 
had cheap, rather light sandy lands, if not too dry, will 
make good crops. However good the land, manure will 
help it, since it costs little if any more to take care of an 
acre of good land, producing up to 2,000 pounds per acre, 
than one producing 800 to 1,000 pounds, and the large, 



126 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



choice leaves of uniform quality will sell for much more per 
pound, than the light, thin leaves. In fact, the measure of 
success in tobacco culture lies in the difference between six 
or seven cents per pound, and twenty-five or thirty cents 
per pound. The first will lose money ; the latter will make 
money fast. No acre should produce less than 1,500 
pounds, if the crop is goingr to pay. Not even then will 
the farmer make money if he raises five and six cent 
tobacco. 

THE TRUE TOBACCO BELT. 

The belt of country in which the best tobacco is grown 
in the United States lies between thirty-six and forty 
degrees, though much of the best cigar 
tobacco is grown in the West, well north, 
in Wisconsin, about the latitude of forty- 
three degrees. The best manufacturing 
tobacco, club and chewing, is raised in Ken- 
tucky and Missouri. Virginia and North 
Carolina raise fine tobacco for smoking in 
pipes, and some of the Florida soils are 
celebrated for a cigar tobacco second only 
to that of Cuba. 

The principal producing States are Vir- 
ginia, Ketucky, Tennessee, Missouri and 
Ohio. Kentucky produces by far the largest 
quantity. In the Centennial Exposition 
twenty-one States were represented, which, 
besides the hung-leaf, exhibited ninety 
specimens of pressed leaf, the best sample being from Vir- 
ginia. In cigar tobaccos, Connecticut produces the best, 
and Wisconsin the next best tobacco, if we except Florida, 
which produces comparatively a small quantity, but of a 
high grade for cigar wrappers and fillers. 

What the country west of Arkansas and Missouri may 
do in the cultivation of tobacco (excepting California, which 




Hand ofTobacco. 



SPECIAL CROPS. 127 

produces an excellent article), is yet to be learned. It is 
thought that Arizona contains lands that will produce leaf 
of the best quality. 

RAISING THE CROP SOUTH. 

The principles of tobacco raising are, of course, the 
same everywhere. Proper attention to the condition of the 
soil, judicious selection of plants, careful setting, thorough 
cultivation, effective precautions against the cut-worm in 
the spring, careful worming during the season of the 
tobacco worm, topping in season, removing suckers and 
pruning (removing the leaves next to the ground) are all 




TOBACCO WORM MOTH. 



necessary. How this is done is well told by a Southern 
tobacco planter of large experience. He says : 

Plenty of Plants. — Select good land for the crop ; 
plow and subsoil, if in autumn, to get all thebenefits of win- 
ter's freezes. This cannot be too strongly urged. Have 
early and vigorous plants, and plenty of them. It were 
better to have one hundred thousand too many than ten 
thousand too few. To make sure of them, give personal 
attention to the selection and preparation of the plant-bed, 
and to the care of the young plants in the means necessary 
to hasten their growth, and to protect them from the 
dreaded fly. 

Manure Liberally. — Collect manure in season and out 
of season, and from every available source — from the fence 



128 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

corners, the ditch-bank, the urinal, the ash-pile. Distribute 
it liberally. Plow it under (both the home-made and the 
commercial) in February, about four inches deep, that it 
may become thoroughly incorporated in the soil, and be 
ready to answer to the first and every call of the growing 
plant. Often (we believe, generally,) the greatest part of 
manure applied to tobacco — and this is true of the bought 
fertilizer as well as that made on the farm — is lost to that 
crop from being applied too late. Don't wait to apply your 
dearly-purchased guano in the hill or the drill from fear 
that, if applied sooner, it will vanish into thin air before the 
plant needs it. This is an exploded fallacy. Experience, 
our best teacher, has demonstrated that stable and commer- 
cial manures are most effective when used in conjunction. 
In no other way can they be so intimately intermixed as by 
plowing them under — the one broadcasted on the other — 
at an early period of the preparation of the tobacco lot. 

Spring Cultivation. — ^Early in May (in the main to- 
bacco belt, between the thirty-fifth and fortieth parallels of 
north latitude), re-plow the soil to about the depth of the 
February plowing, and drag and cross-drag, and, if need 
be, drag it again, until the land is brought to the finest pos- 
sible tilth. Thus you augment many fold the probabilities 
of a stand on the first planting, and lessen materially the 
subsequent labor of cultivation. Plant on lists (narrow beds 
made by throwing four furrows together with the mold- 
board plow) rather than in hills, if for no other reason than 
that having now, if never before, to pay wages in some 
shape to labor, whenever and wherever possible horse- 
power should be substituted for man-power — the plow for 
the hoe. Plant as early as possible after a continuance of 
pleasant spring weather is assured. Seek to have a for- 
ward crop, as the benefits claimed for a late one from the 
fall dews do not compensate for the many advantages 
resulting from early maturity. Make it an inflexible rule 
to plant no tobacco after the tenth of July, in the tobacco 



SPECIAL CROPS. 129 

belt we have named. Where one good crop is made from 
later planting, ninety-nine prove utter failures. 

TRANSPLANTING, CULTIVATING AND WORMING. 

Take pains in transplanting, that little or no re-planting 
shall be necesssary. The cut-worm being a prime cause 
of most of the trouble in securing a stand, hunt it assidu- 
ously, and particularly in the early morning, when it can 
most readily be found. Keep the grass and weeds down, 
and the soil loose and mellow by frequent stirring, avoid- 
ing as much as possible cutting and tearing the roots of 
the plant in all stages of its growth, and more especially 
after topping. 

There are few cultivated plants more beautiful when in 
blossom than the tobacco plant. When at all practicable — 




TOBACCO WORM, LARVA. 



and, with the great improvements in cultivators, sweeps 
and other farm implements, it is oftener practicable than 
generally supposed — substitute for hand-work in cultiva- 
tion that of the hors3. The difference in cost will tell in 
the balance-sheet at the close of the operation. 

Worming. — Attend closely to worming, for on it hinges 
in no little degree the quality and quantity of tobacco you 
have for sale. A worm-eaten crop brings little money. So 
important is this operation that it may properly claim more 
than a passing notice. Not only is it the most tedious, the 
most unremitting, and the most expensive operation con- 
nected with the production of tobacco, but the necessity for 
it determines more than all other causes the limit of the 
crop, which in general it has been found possible for a 



130 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

single hand to manage, Therefore, bring to your aid every 
possible adjunct in diminishing the number of worms. 

Killing the Moth. — Use poison for killing the moth in 
the manner so frequently described in treatises on tobacco, 
to wit: by injecting a solution of cobalt or other deadly 
drug into the flower of the Jamestown or jimson weed 
{^Datura stra7)tonijini), if necessary planting seeds of the 
weed for the purpose. Employ at night the flames of 
lamps, of torches, or of huge bonfires, in which the moth 
may find a quick and certain death. In worming, spare 
those worms found covered with a white film 
or net-like substance, this being the cocoon pro- 
ducing the ichneumon fly, an enemy to the worm 
likely to prove a valuable ally to the planter in 
his war of extermination. Turn your flock of 
turkeys into the tobacco field, that they, too, may 
prey upon the pest, and themselves grow fat in 
so doing. If these remedies should fail, sprinkle 
diluted spirits of turpentine over the plant 
through the nose of a watering-pot, a herculean 
task truly in a large crop, but mere child's 
play to the hand-picking process, for the one 
sprinkling suffices to keep off the worms for all 
time, whereas hand-picking is a continual round 
of expensive labor from the appearance of the first worm 
until the last plant has been harvested. 

Turkeys. — The writer's experience in raising tobacco 
in the North is that hand-picking is the only sure means of 
killing the worms. It costs money and time, but the differ- 
ence in the leaf and the crop, in price, is what ensures 
profit.' Turkeys are indefatigable hunters of the tobacco 
worm, and they will kill them after their hunger is satisfied. 

Topping. — The topping of the plants must be attended 
to in season, just at the time the buds appear. From eight 
to twelve leaves should be left to each plant, according to 




PUPA OF TOBACCO 
WORM. 



SPECIAL CROPS. 131 

the richness of the soil. This will give strong growth, but 
the grower must exercise his judgment here. It is better 
to have a few strong leaves than more weak ones. 

THE SEED-BED. 

Growing the plants is one of the most important things 
in tobacco culture. Without good, healthy plants, failure 
is pretty certain. In the South a warm, sheltered situation 
of well-drained laind is selected. This should be carefully 
dug over in the autumn or winter when dry, and so covered 
with brush that the soil may be burned deep enough to 
kill the weeds lying near the surface. The beds may be 
burned over in February, March or April, according to the 
locality, and immediately sown, since the seed will not 
sprout until the earth has the proper temperature. 

Sowing. — After burning, hoe and rake the surface 
thoroughly, to a depth of two or three inches, and leave 
the surface fine and smooth. Mix the seed with dry ashes, 
at the rate of a large tablespoonful for each eighty square 
yards, and sow evenly, rake lightly, or better, tamp the 
whole carefully over with the rake, the handle being held 
upright. Cover carefully with brush, but not so as to 
exclude the sun. As soon as the plants require weeding, 
remove the brush carefully, at the same time thinning the 
plants where they stand too thick. In this way you will 
get fine, well-rooted plants for setting. 

RAISING PLANTS NORTH. 

In the North, raising plants is more difficult. The 
season is so short that the crop is often late in ripening. 
If the plants are placed in too warm a border they are apt 
to become chilled or killed by frost, and are seldom large 
enough for setting by the first to the tenth of June. We 
have always had the best success by raising the plants in a 
cold frame — a compartment of boards sixteen inches high 
at the back, sloping to ten inches in front, covered with 
sashes, and containing four or five inches of fine compost 
soil. 



132 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Caring for the Plants. — The seed may be sown in this 
bed about the first of April, and are easily cared for, readily 
protected against the fly, by dusting with soot or fumigat- 
ing with smoke. They are also thoroughly protected 
against frost at night, or too much wet, and are easily 
watered when necessary. If given plenty of ventilation to 
keep them growing slowly and healthily, and if exposed to 
the full influence of the air during the day, for two or three 
weeks before setting, they make stronger and better rooted 
plants than any grown out of door. 

Transplanting. — Transplanting in the North should not 
be undertaken until cucumbers and melons will germinate 
and grow promptly, or until both days and nights are warm. 
In untoward seasons plants are set until about the first of 
July. From the first to the fifteenth of June is the proper 
time in Wisconsin, and a little earlier in Northern Illinois; 
about the first of June is the best time in the New England 
States. Of seed-leaf tobacco from five thousand' to six 
thousand plants are set per acre, and of Havana six 
thousand to seven thousand, according to the size of 
plants your seed will produce. 

PREPARING THE LAND. 

In the North, the ground for tobacco should always be 
deeply fall-plowed, turning under a liberal quantity of barn- 
yard manure. If the land has not been previously manured, 
twenty loads of fine manure should also be carted and 
spread in winter to ensure richness near the surface. About 
ten days before planting-time this should be turned under 
about four inches deep and the surface brought to an uni- 
formly fine tilth. 

Marking the Land. — Mark the land in straio-ht lines 
three feet apart, and with a single horse-hoe or double 
mold-board plow run through these marks, thus bedding 
up the land. Run a harrow over the ridges lengthwise 
and then a plank to bring all fine and smooth. You will 



SPECIAL CROPS. 133 

then have a succession of flat, slightly raised beds upon 
which to plant. 

If you mark these beds crosswise, three feet apart, you 
will get 4,840 plants per acre. This is space enough for 
the largest Connecticut or Maryland tobacco. If you mark 
your squares two feet you will have 7,200 plants per acre, 
and this is close enough for the smallest Havana plants. 
Thus you may graduate your distances to accommodate 
plants of any size that one season's cultivation will show, 
according to the richness of the soil or variety of tobacco 
cultivated. It should always be remembered that the closer 




MOTH OF TOMATO WORM — DESTROYS TOBACCO IN THE NORTH. 

you grow your plants, according to soil, the better the crop 
as a rule. 

Smaller Squares. — Or if you choose to make your beds 
three and a half feet apart, then by marking across the beds 
thirty inches apart you will get 4,076 plants per acre. 
Marked two feet apart there will be 6,223 plants; if twenty 
inches apart in the row, 7,467 plants per acre. 

PLANTING AT THE NORTH. 

Directions for planting, general cultivation, care, har- 
vesting, drying, stripping and packing tobacco will apply to 
all parts of the country, allowances being made for differ- 



134 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ences in latitude and other conditions. Many tobacco 
growers pull the plants when the leaves are the size of one's 
thumb-nail, and simply press them into the ground when it 
is wet. This is never done, North or South, by the best 
cultivators. We give the best plan, and in the end it is 
the cheapest, because it is the best. Never wait for rain 
in transplanting anything, provided the ground is in a fairly 
moist condition ; that is, friably moist, or not really dry. 
Water the plants thoroughly in the bed, and as soon there- 
after as the soil can be worked, take out enough plants for 
the day's planting, beginning at about three o'clock in the 
afternoon, or if the weather is cloudy, work all day. Plant 
as late at night as you can see. Havana seed plants have 
long roots like cabbage, and are not so easy to set as Con- 
necticut seed-leaf, which has fibrous roots. Hence it is 
better to prick them out. 

PROPER WAY TO TRANSPLANT TOBACCO. 

When the plants have leaves about the size of a silver 
dollar, let a careful hand take them up and bring them to 
the field as wanted, arranging them in baskets on wet moss, 
so they can be easily handled and covered with a fold of 
damp cloth. The ground being properly marked, the 
planter takes a plant, makes a hole for it with one or two 
fingers, inserts the roots, pressing the earth firmly around 
it, but leaving a depression to hold a little water. This an 
assistant supplies from a watering can with a spout. If the 
earth is in good condition, a gill is enough for each plant; 
if the soil is pretty dry more water must be given, and 
always in the depression which is left about the roots. 

Thus the hands, as many as are necessary, go on work- 
ing with a deftness that is learned only by practice, and 
covering a large area of ground in a day. When the water 
has dried down, other hands, girls preferably, smooth the 
soil nicely to the plants, covering the watered surface with 
fine dry mold. 

The plants should be set as shown in the annexed cut; 



SPECIAL CROPS. 135 

they will seldom suffer for want of moisture, and in ordi- 
nary weather will grow right along. It is the cheapest way 
in the end, and by no means slow, for an active hand will 
set 5,000 plants inaday. And when the work is thus done, 
in the best possible manner, there will be no baking or dry- 
ing of the soil about the roots. This is true of plants of 
every kind and should be remembered. In setting on these 
raised beds, the tobacco plants should be rather below the 
level of the surface, for as soon as the crop is fairly grow- 
ing, a little earth should be dressed up to them. 

THE CULTIVATION. 

All Other cultivation should be the same as that for corn 
or other hoed crops, thorough and frequent. No weeds 
dare be allowed at any time. In an average season the 
plant will mature sufficiently by the early part of August to 
dispense with further cultivation, but until the ground is 
fairly shaded, the cultivation must be thorough. When 
the plants have from fourteen to sixteen leaves, or when 
they begin to throw up the blossom shoots, pinch off the 
tops, and from time to time, as the suckers appear, pinch 
them out before they attain a length of three inches. If 
the suckers are allowed to remain, they will reduce the 
growth of the true leaves. 

The necessity of watching for, and killing cut worms, 
after the plants are set, and destroying the horn (tobacco) 
worms as fast as they appear, has already been pointed out. 
These must be attended to or the crops will be seriously 
damaged and may be ruined. No man should undertake to 
cultivate tobacco, or any other special crop, unless he is 
prepared to spend the time and money necessary to do 
everything in the best manner, since, upon this depends 
the ultimate profits. In the North, the worm, larva of the 
tobacco sphinx, and also that of the tomato worm, an allied 
species, appear about July ist, and feed on the leaf until 
the crop is secured. In fact, they frequently, if not picked 



136 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

off clean, cling to the leaves after the stalk is hung- up. 
Usually, from three to four weeks from the time of topping 
the plant will mature and be ready to cut. 

Uniform size of leaves, and a stiffness of the leaf, 
making it liable to break by bending and handling, are the 
surest signs of maturity. The lower leaves change color, 
and in some varieties the leaves present a spotted or 
mottled appearance. This must be carefully studied, and 




TOKACCO I'LANT IN BLOSSOM. 



the beginner would do well to employ a man competent to 
judge, and who is also familiar with handling, hanging; dry- 
ing, stripping, bulking and packing the crop. Otherwise, 
the beginner should experiment in a small way until he 
learns. Nowadays, however, the crop is usually sold in 
bulk, in the North, the buyer attending to the casing and 
shipping himself 

CUTTING AND CURING TOBACCO. 

The time to cut must be determined by the condition of 
the crop. Sometimes it ripens unevenly. In this case, the 



SPECIAL CROPS. 



137 



portion that is ripe must be selected first. If the crop 
ripens up handsomely, it is better to cut altogether, since 
the inferior plants left are apt to be whipped and injured oy 
the wind. The stalk is severed with a heavy knife (similar 
to a corn stalk knife) just above the ground, and at a 
single blow. Each stalk is laid on the ground to wilt, but 
it must not be long exposed to the sun, especially if it is 
hot ; nor must it be cut with the dew on. 

Cut after the dew is off, but not during the middle of 
the day, when the sun is bright, as you must guard against 
burning while it is undergoing the wilting process, pre- 
paratory to spearing and handling in the removal to the 
shed. When wilted, so the plants may be handled without 
breaking the leaves, they are speared, spiked, or strung by 
the butts upon laths four 
feet long. Four or five 
plants are strung to each 
lath, and hung on proper 
frames, on a wagon or sled, 
for removal to the house. 
Some persons hang in tem- 
porary sheds in the field or 
near the house, for partial curing, but it is not a good plan. 
The house should be large enough for the whole crop. It 
should have ventilators at the top to pass out the foul air, 
and ventilators at the bottom to admit fresh air in windy 
weather. 

THE TOBACCO HOUSE. 

The tobacco house may be arranged for four or five 
tiers of stalks. It should rarely or never be higher. The 
illustration shows the general arrangement — beams for 
hanging the tobacco, lath doors or shutters for ventilation, 
etc. The ventilation is important. In damp weather the 
house must be closed. In windy weather the leaves must 
not be blown about. If the dry heat of charcoal, coke, etc., 
is used for drying, it should be conveyed in pipes running 




TOBACCO HOUSE. 



138 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

at proper intervals through the house and not within eight 
feet of the leaves. Care must also be used in curing, 
according to vifhether the demand is for light or dark 
tobacco. 

Stripping. — In December, and from that time on, when 
the weather is moist enough so the tobacco will be pliable, 
or "in case" for handling, stripping may commence. The 
tobacco should be assorted into three qualities, first, second 
and third, corresponding to best, second-best and inferior, 
and all leaves in a "hand" should be of uniform length. 
This assorting must be by competent hands. One man 
may take the best, passing the stalk to another, he selects 
the seconds, and another the inferior. These tied in 
bundles of twelve to sixteen leaves, and bound at the butts 
by a single leaf, constitute a "hand" of tobacco, as shown 
in the cut. Twelve leaves make a "hand" of the best 
wrappers ; from fourteen to sixteen are often put into 
" hands" of seconds and thirds. 

Bulking. — This is a nice job, and requires the utmost 
care and watchfulness to bring the tobacco into the proper 
condition. If too damp, it will get hot, if too dry it will 
not warm up sufficiently to bring out the fragrance and 
color of prime condition. It will pay to hire a competent 
man until the owner is familiar with the process. The 
object is to have the tobacco dry out slowly, and to remain in 
projaer condition until ready for packing in cases in the 
North, or in hogsheads in the South. These boxes, or 
cases, contain four hundred pounds, while the hogsheads 
contain one thousand pounds each. The bulking is done 
between the sides of a frame as high as the bulk is to be 
carried, and wide enough to allow the leaf-tips to lap, one 
on the other with the butts at the sides. A bulk three and 
a half feet high, and twenty feet long, should hold four 
thousand pounds. Bulk each sort by itself. In bulking, 
take the "hands" qne at a time, laying them straight, over- 



SPECIAL CROPS. 139 

lapping the tops one-third on the other, keeping the whole 
even, and pressing with the knees as you proceed, until 
the task is finished. Then remove the side-pieces, and 
cover all with blankets, weighting them down with boards 
if necessary. 

The bulks may remain until sold to the packer, watch- 
ing it carefully to see that it does not heat unduly. If the 
fermentation is too strong, the tobacco will blacken ; if too 
little, the flavor will not develop. To get the right effect 
requires the greatest care and judgment. 

TWELVE RULES FOR TOBACCO GROWERS. 

1 . TjiE land must be rich and in good condition generally; 
potash and nitrogen are essential to the crop, as well as 
friability and permeability of the soil. 

2. The seeding in the seed-bed must be thick and even; 
to be afterwards thinned, to enable the plants to grow 
stocky and strong for transplanting. It is well to allow an 
ounce of seed for every two acres of tobacco, to allow for 
destruction by the fly and other insect enemies. 

3. Do not transplant until the weather is permanently 
warm — the nights as well as the days. If once the plants 
are chilled the crop is injured. 

4. After planting out watch carefully for cut-worms, at 
daylight in the morning, and wherever a leaf is attacked 
find every worm before you quit. 

5. Transplant promptly from a reserve bed of extra 
plants whenever you find a plant missing. 

6. Cultivate thoroughly, always being careful not to 
break or injure the leaves. Careless workers will destroy 
more than the value of extra wages paid to careful men. 

7. Watch for the appearance of the tobacco moth, 
which lays the eggs. It is well to have a plat of Jinson 
weed near, or of tobacco plants in flowers, to attract the 
moths. The flowers may be poisoned with a solution of 
cobalt, such as is used for killing flies. 

8. When the worms — larvae of the tobacco moth, hatched 



I40 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

from the eggs laid on the tobacco leaves — appear, go over 
the field twice a day, carefully, to kill them. Also hunt for 
the patches of eggs on the leaves and destroy them. 

9. Top the field to twelve or fifteen leaves, as soon as 
the buttons — flower-buds — have generally appeared, and 
pinch out suckers before they grow three inches in length. 
Take off all lower leaves that sweep the ground. 

10. Cut the crop when ripe, preferably with a sharp saw, 
and never allow plants to wilt when the sun is hot. Handle 
very carefully, to prevent injury in carrying to the house 
and in hanging. 

11. Watch the ventilation in the house. The leaves 
must not hang near enough for one stock of leaves to touch 
another. The wind must not blow them about and the 
vapors must be promptly carried away through ventilators 
at the top of the house. 

12. In stripping, keep each grade by itself. Bulk care- 
fully, and watch daily to see that it does not overheat. 



Cultivation of Peanuts. 



The cultivation is simple, and yet peculiar. The 
blossoms, when fertilized, hang down, grow into the ground 
and pierce it until the firm soil is reached, where the pods 
form and ripen. Hence, the necessity of shallow cultiva- 
tion. The soil should be plowed in autumn, and in the 
spring only surface-plowed, not more than three or four 
inches, to kill weeds. 

When all danger of frost is over, the soil is bedded up 
and prepared, as for tobacco, leaving only a slight furrow- 
mark between the rows. In the center of each of these 
beds, in a straight line, plant two seeds, at distances of 
eicrhteen inches ; also have reserve plants, to fill the places 
of those that may be destroyed by cut -worms, etc. 

The cultivation is simply to keep down the weeds, pre- 



SPECIAL CROPS. 141 

serving the shape of the beds until near the time of 
blossoming. 

A narrow cultivator is then run through the rows, fol- 
lowed by a horse team to earth up the plants. The earth 
is afterwards leveled to present a flat hill, in which the nuts 
are to form. If weeds or grass thereafter appear, they 
must be pulled up by hand. The illustration shows the 
vine, the root, and the nuts formed under the surface. 

GATHERING THE NUTS. 

The crop is not harvested until the vines are touched 
by frost, for the longer the vines grow the greater the num- 
ber of sound pods, except in the extreme South, where the 
vines ripen fully. Hands follow the rows and loosen the 
nuts with pronged hoes or flat-tined forks. They are fol- 
lowed by others, who pull the 
vines, shake the earth from them 
and leave them turned to the sun to 
dry. In dry weather they will thus 
be sufficiently cured for shocking. 
The shocking is done somewhat 
after the manner employed for 
beans ; or they may be finally 
cured, as beans sometimes are, on 
scaffolds under sheds. 

Shocking. — The Tennessee ^ 
plan is to provide stakes, seven 
feet long, made sharp at both 
ends ; then lay two fence rails on i 
the ground as a foundation, but' 
with supports underneath to afford ' 
free access to the air. The stakes' 
are stuck in the ground at con- peanuts-plant and tubers. 
venient intervals between the rails, the stacks built up 
around them, and finished off by a cap of straw to shed the 
rain. The diameter of the stack is made to conform to 




142 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the spread of a single vine. After remaining about two 
weeks in the stack, the picking should begin, taking off 
none but the matured pods. These are to be carried to the 
barn, and prepared for market by finishing the drying pro- 
cess, and then fanning and cleaning. The most tedious 
part of the work is picking. An expert discriminates at 
a glance between the mature and immature pods, but can- 
not pick more than two and a half or three bushels per 
day. 

AFTER-MANAGEMENT AND CARE OF SEED. 

Unless the management in the barn is carefully con- 
ducted, there is great danger, where there is much of a 
bulk, that the peas will become heated and moldy. The 
condition in which the early deliveries are often made on 
the market renders this caution necessary. In fact, there 
is as much slovenliness in the handling of this crop as there 
is in regard to any other, perhaps more ; for the reason 
that so many inexperienced persons engage in the culture 
every year. Until the pods are thoroughly seasoned, the 
bulk should be frequently stirred and turned over. A cer- 
tain classification, in respect to quality, obtains in peanuts 
as in every other article of agricultural produce. The 
descriptive terms in general use are inferior, ordinary, 
prime and fancy; but these are not so definite as to admit 
of no intermediate grades. 

Seed Peanuts. — A matter of primary importance is to 
provide seeds of good quality for planting; and in order to 
be assured of their excellence the planter should either 
raise them himself or buy them of a person on whose fidel- 
ity he can rely. If, after the vines are dug and they are 
lying in the field, they should be exposed to frosty weather, 
the germinating principle would be destroyed or impaired. 
As a merchantable article, however, their value is not 
affected. Neither should the nuts become the least heated 
or moldy ; nor should they be picked off the vines while 
wet, or before they are thoroughly cured. It is obvious, 



SPECIAL CROPS. 143 

therefore, that the most careful attention is requisite in this 
matter. Previous to planting, the pods should be carefully 
shelled, and every faulty bean thrown out; not even the 
membrane inclosing the seed should be ruptured. It takes 
about two bushels of peanuts in the pod to plant an acre. 

Sweet Potatoes. 



The sweet potato is another special crop that year by 
year becomes more important, especially since cheap rail- 
way facilities admit transportation for long distances, and 
improved methods enable the farmer to preserve them in 
good condition through the winter, and until late in the 
spring. There is now only about two months in the year 
when they may not be readily bought in the Northern 
markets. 

Sandy soil, or a rather firm, sandy loam is the best for 
this crop. In soft land, especially if plowed deep, the 
tubers grow long and stringy. The potatoes are never 
planted directly in the hill, but are grown from "slips" — 
sprouts three to five inches long — obtained by beddingthe 
potatoes in a hot-bed, covered with boards, to shed rain, 
and protect them from being chilled at night. As the sweet 
potato is killed by the slightest frost, the plants should 
never be set out in the field until the days and nights are 
warm. Planted from the first to the middle of June, good 
crops are raised up to, and even north of, forty-two degrees 
In favorable situations. 

A central Ohio farmer gives, in a nut-shell, all that Is 
necessary for field cultivation. For the garden it is cheaper 
to buy the plants than to raise them, two hundred plants 
being enough for a family of moderate size. Our authority, 
a thorough practical farmer, says: 

FIELD CULTURE OF SWEET POTATOES. 

" My plan Is to place logs on a sloping piece of ground, 
say ten or twelve feet apart. I then drive small stakes, or 



144 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

pegs, in rows three feet apart, and eight inches high. The 
object is to have not more than seven or eight inches 
depth of manure, which should be fresh horse-dung, a 
mixture of hay, straw, corn-fodder, etc., trampled down 
level with the tops of the pegs. I then put a coat of loam, 
three inches deep, upon the top of the manure, which 
answers for the dressing the subsequent year. I then place 
my tubers on, cover them from two to three inches deep, 
and then lay on boards, so as to keep them effectually 
covered from rain or cold until the plants are up. 

Drawing the Plants. — During the day I let them have 
the sun, until I am sure they cannot be injured by frost. I 
sometimes water them, but not before the heat has some- 
what subsided from the bed, which I ascertain by putting 
my forefinger through the covering. A very little warmth 
from beneath is sufficient ; there is more to be apprehended 
from too much heat than too little. Some place a covering 
of sawdust on top of the bed; but this is entirely unneces- 
sary. In this latitude, the beds should be made as early 
as the tenth or twentieth of April. The plants will be 
ready for drawing from the eighth to the twentieth of May. 

Preparing the Ground. — I select ground, for growing 
the tubers, that will produce good corn. To manure just 
before planting will cause the plants to run to vines. 
Good loam, with or without sand, such as we call "second 
year's land," lying to the sun, yields best. It need not 
necessarily be sandy to produce the greatest yield ; on the 
contrary, good loamy land prockices tubers of the best 
flavor. I plow the ground well, when dry, and harrow 
thoroughly. It would even be better to cross-plow it. 
Then I throw two "moles" together, about four feet apart, 
and see that the ground is well pulverized, in order that 
the list may be clear from clods, sods and trash, and that 
the land is in the best order to receive the plants. The 
time for transplanting is when the ground is what we call 
" dry." 



SPECIAL CROPS. 145 

Planting. — The mode of planting is to make a hole 
with the hand, or otherwise, of the proper depth to receive 
the young- plant ; and, when it is placed in the hole, I pour 
in half a gill of water, so that the earth may settle around 
the fibrous roots; then I draw the dry earth around the 
plant, and compress it a little with a hoe. In less than 
twenty-fours the plant will be as vigorous as though it 
had never been removed. On good land, the distance of 
the plants apart should be from eighteen to twenty inches; 
for thin land, fifteen inches will be sufficient. The yield, 
in this section, is from 100 to 150 bushels to the acre. I 
should state that the plants require to be hoed about as 
much as corn. The vines should be thrown on the ridges, 
out of the way, while dressing. In digging, I use a large, 
long, flat, three-tined fork to throw the tubers out of the 
ground. When dug, I spread them to dry and wilt some- 
what, preparatory to putting them up for winter, which 
requires much care. 

KEEPING SWEET POTATOES IN WINTER. 

Sweet potatoes are easily kept through the winter in a 
room where the temperature is about fifty degrees. A 
temperature materially lower than this will make them 
"frost-bitten," and if the room is much warmer than fifty 
degrees, it will sprout them. Sweet potato houses are 
biiilt secure from frost, heated to the proper temperature, 
and the potatoes are kept in bins one over another, each 
containing about a barrel. 

Any room of the temperature stated will keep them, if 
the potatoes have been handled without bruising. They 
may be packed either in barrels or boxes, and kiln-dried or 
thoroughly sun-dried sand poured over them to fill the 
interstices, or boxes of uniform size, separated one from 
the other by an inch space, may be piled one above the 
other. In this way the potatoes will keep sound until 
spring. 



146 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



GARDEN CULTIVATION OF SWEET POTATOES. 

Where a few plants are raised for family use in the 
autumn and early winter, the earth may be thrown up 
either into pretty high ridges or hills, and the plants set as 
directed, at anytime after the season becomes permanently 
warm. Watch for cut-worms, keep the soil clean, prevent 
the vines rooting from the joints, by occasionally lifting 
with the handle of a rake, and in the autumn you will have 
fresh potatoes that will come in well for family use. Every 
farmer should plant from 200 to 500 vines. 




GrGPS FGR 8u6?LR-7Vl?lRin6. 



Sugar and Its Manufacture. 



QUINCE sugar has come to be thought one of the neces- 
A-^ sities of Hfe, various plants containing saccharine sap 
have been utilized for the manufacture of syrup, or sugar, 
or both. Sugar-cane and the sugar beet have been the 
most important of these, the maple-tree standing next, 
until within the last few years, during which time improved 
processes of separating tree sugar from the glucose ol 
sorghum have come into use. 

From the author's earlier experiments, forty years ago, 
in concentrating the juices of the corn-stalk, and of water- 
melons, we were convinced that these plants would never 
afford merchantable sweets. Not so after experimenting 
with sorghum, in 1 856. The saccharine material was there ; 
the question remained, how to separate it cheaply. This 
has now been so answered by the chemist as to make it 
seem probable that within a very few years the West will 
be able to produce sugar from sorghum as satisfactorily as 
Europe has done from the sugar beet. How important 
this is will be understood when we mention, that, notwith- 
standing the gradual increase of the sugar production in 
the very narrow Gulf belt of the United States, which itself 
is only partially adapted to the production of cane sugar, 
this country grows only one-seventh of the sugar it uses. 

HISTORY OF BEET SUGAR IN THE UNITED STATES. 

There have been, in all, seven large beet-sugar factories 
started in the United States during the last twenty years. 
Two in Illinois, two in Wisconsin, one in Maine and two 
in California. True success has been reached by one, and 
all but one have suspended. The manufacture of beet 



148 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



sugar requires an abundance of living water, intricate 
machinery, large capital, cheap labor in the production and 

working of the crop, and 
men of exact and scientific 
knowledge in the manage- 
ment of the factory. The 
same enterprise and money 
employed in the produc- 
tion of sorghum will pro- 
duce double the results. 
The time may come when 
the production of beet sug- 
ar may be profitable in the 
United States; yet with the 
cheaper labor of Europe, 
the industry does not flour- 
ish there as in former 
years. 

THE THREE SUGARS COM- 
PARED. 

A great want of clear- 
ness rests in the public 
mind as to grape and fruit 
sugars, arising from the 
carelessness with which sci- 
entific men use the terms, 
employing the words 
" grape sugar " or " un- 
crystallizable sugar " either 
to pure grape sugar, to 
pure fruit sugar, or to a 
mixture of the two. The 
mixture of grape and fruit 
suears arising from the 
action of acids, ferment, or 
water upon cane sugar is called " inverted " sugar, " grape 




HEAD OF EARLY AMBER CANE. 



CROPS FOR SUGAR-MAKING. 149 

sugar and " uncrystallizable " sugar ; being thus named 
differently by different persons. " Inverted sugar " is the 
proper name, which is derived from the change of action 
upon polarized light from right to left. 

The practical results of our present chemical knowledge 
of the sugars may be briefly stated, as follows: Grape 
sugar is practically uncrystallizable in the manufacture of 
cane sugar, as it remains in the molasses; it is also much 
less sweet than cane sug^ar. Fruit surar is as sweet as 
cane sugar, but does not crystalize. Cane sugar may be 
transformed into inverted sugar (which is a mixture of 
grape and fruit sugars) by means of acids, long boiling with 
water, and fermentation, etc.; but neither of these last 
sugars can be changed again into cane sugar by any pro- 
cess known in chemistry. For practical purposes the differ- 
ence of composition of the three sugars, as shown by their 
organic analyses, need not be discussed here. It is, how- 
ever, important to note that they form compounds with 
salts, and that these combinations with the salts naturally 
in the vegetable juices associated with the sugars do not 
crystalize. In the compound of cane sugar with lime the 
cane sugar is not destroyed or "inverted" by boiling, but 
grape or fruit sugar in combination with lime are rapidly 
destroyed by boiling. 



Cultivation of Sugar Cane. 

It is not likely that the cultivation of the true sugar- 
cane can ever become a great industry in the United States. 
The small yield, even in the best sections of Louisiana, 
which gives but from 1,200 to 1,800 pounds of sugar to the 
acre, as against 3,000 to 5,000 pounds in the Mauritius, 
and occasionally even up to 7,000 pounds per acre in Cuba, 
is against it. That would suffice, to say nothing of the 
malaria of the sugar plantations ; the larger cost of culti- 



ISO 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



vation; higher price of labor, compared with tropical climates 
where peon or slave labor is used. 

Of late years, attempts have been made to introduce 
the plan of delivering the cane direct to central factories for 
working. What this may accomplish in time remains to be 
seen. The system has worked well in the French West 
Indies, and large profits have been made. 

CULTIVATION OF SORGHUM. 

The cultivation of sorghum, from the 
first preparation of the soil until the cane 
is ripe, is identical with that of Indian 
corn, with these exceptions : The soil 
should be reduced to a finer tilth than 
is generally made for corn ; the cane 
being delicate in growth, more care must 
be used in cultivation when it first comes 
up ; and the crop will be undoubtedly 
better for one thorough hoeing of the 
plants. 

If planted in check-rows, three and a 
half feet by three would be about right, 
four or five plants to remain in the hill. 
If drilled, which is much the best plan, 
the plants may stand eight or ten inches 
apart. When the seed is to be planted 
by hand, the seed should always be 
soaked until the germ is ready to ap- 
pear. A pocket-full of kiln-dried corn- 
meal, in which the hand may be dipped occasionally, will 
help to prevent the seed from clinging. 

If the land is inclined to be wet after rains, the soil 
should be listed up for planting on ; if Avell-drained, use 
level planting. The seed should not be covered more than 
an inch, and in the case of sprouted seed, half an inch is 
better. Never plant on trashy land. It should be as clean 




SORGHUM. 



CROPS FOR SUGAR-MAKING. 



151 



as a garden. When this is the case, you may drill the 
seed, and plenty of it, always pressing the soil pretty firmly 
to the seed. When the land is 
thoroughly dried, you may put a 
sharp-toothed harrow on the land, 
crossing the drills at right angles 
to thin the plants. Lumpy soil 
should never be planted with sor- 
ghum. Lumps, as a rule, result 
from plowing the land when too 
wet. 

The cultivator must decide for 
himself distance to plant, whether 
in hills or drills. For sorghum, 
good barn-yard manure, some 
phosphate (never nitrogenous 
manure), and gypsum should be 
used.- 

WHEN TO CUT SORGHUM CANE. 

It is fully established now that 
the cane must not be cut until the 
seed is about ripe, or fully devel- 
oped and hard. According to a 
late report to the Commission of 
Agriculture, taken from the results 
of 2,739 analyses of sorghum, .the 
percentage of juice extracted from 
the stripped stalks gradually in- 
creases up to a certain point of 
ripeness, and then gradually de- 
creases to the close of the sea- 



son. 




HEAD OF WOLF-TAIL CANE. 



THE REAL TEST OF VALUE. 

After all, the real test of value for any cane is the 
amount of crystallized sugar that can be actually separated 



152 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



from the juice obtained from the stalks grown on an acre. 
This amount will depend very greatly on the quantity and 




HEAD UF WniTK MAMMOTH CANE. 



quality of the canes, and upon the promptness and care 
with which they are worked up after cutting. The figures 
here given in explanation of the various points which have 



CROPS FOR SUGAR-MAKING. 153 

been discussed have been derived from very carefully con- 
ducted work, and they are offered as fair statements of 
what can and should be attained by careful workers. 

Among the essential points worthy of repetition are the 
following: 

1. Select a cane that matures quickly, and has as long 
a working period as possible. 

2. Do not work the cane too early; the seed should be 
well matured and quite hard, and the juice should have a 
specific gravity of 1.066, or higher. 

3. After cutting the canes, work them up without great 
delay. It is best to draw directly from the field to the mill 
as may be needed. 

MAKING SUGAR ON THE FARM. 

There are a number of patent methods now-a-days, all 
more or less valuable in large works. Fair brown sugar, 
and especially syrup, may be made on the farm, on any of 
the better class of evaporators. After the cane is gathered, 
stripped and crushed as heretofore directed, proceed as 
below, which is the course recommended by Dr. Jackson, 
of Boston, Mass: 

Filtering and Liming. — In the first place, it is necessary 
to filter the juice, as it comes from the mill, in order to 
remove the cellulose and fibrous matters and the starch, 
all of which are present in it when expressed. A bag filter, 
or one made of a blanket, will answer this purpose. Next, 
we have to add a sufificiency of milk of lime (that is, lime 
slacked and mixed with water) to the juice, to render it 
slightly alkaline, as shown by its changing tumeric paper 
to a brown color, or reddened litmus paper to a blue. A 
small excess of lime is not injurious. 

Boiling. — After this, the juice should be boiled, say for 
fifteen minutes. A thick, greenish scum rapidly collects on 
the surface, which is to be removed by a skimmer, and then 
the liquid should again be filtered. It will be of a pale, 



154 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Straw color, and ready for evaporation. It may now be 
boiled down quite rapidly to about half its original bulk, 

after which the fire must be kept 
low, the evaporation to be carried 
on with great caution, and the 
syrup constantly stirred to prevent 
it from burning at the bottom of the 
kettle or evaporating pan. Por- 
tions of the syrup are to be taken 
from time to time, and allowed to 
cool, out, to see if it is dense 
enough to crystallize. It should 
be about as dense as sugar-house 
molasses, or tar. 

Crystallizing and Drainitig. — 
When it has reached this condition, 
iitmaybe withdrawn from the evap- 
orating vessel, and be placed in 
tubs or casks to granulate. Crys- 
tals of sugar will begin to form 
generally in three or four days, 
and sometimes nearly the whole 
mass will granulate, leaving but 
little molasses to be drained. After 
it has solidified, it may be scooped 
out into conical bags, made of 
coarse, open cloth, or of canvas, 
which are to be hung over the re- 
ceivers of molasses; and the drain- 
age being mucn aided by warmth, 
it will be useful to keep the tem- 
perature of the room at 80° or 90° 
Fahr. After some days the sugar may be removed from 
the bags, and will be found to be a good brown sugar. 

Refining. — It may now be refined by dissolving it in hot 
water, adding to the solution some whites of eggs (say one 




HEAD OF BLACK-TOP CANE. 



CROPS FOR SUGAR-MAKING. 



ISS 



egg for ICO pounds of sugar), mixed with cold water, after 
which the temperature is to be raised to boiling, and the 
syrup should be allowed 
to remain at that heat for 
an hour. Then skim and 
filter, to remove the coag- 
ulated albumen, and the im- 
purities it has extracted 
from the sugar. 

Decoloring. — By means 
of bone-black, such as is 
prepared for sugar refiners, 
the sugar may be decol- 
ored by adding an ounce to 
each gallon of the saccha- 



rine solution, and boiling 




the whole together. Then 
filter, and you will obtain a 
nearly colorless syrup. 

Evaporate this, as be- 
fore directed, briskly, to 
half its bulk, and then slow- 
ly until dense enough to 
crystallize, leaving the 
syrup, as before, in tubs or 
pans to granulate. 

Whitening. — This sugar 
will be of a very light- 
brown color, and may now 
be clayed, or whitened, by 
the usual method — that is 
by putting it into cones 
and pouring a saturated solution of white sugar on it, so 
as to displace the molasses, which will drop from the apex 
of the inverted cone. The sugar is now refined as loaf 
sugar. 



HEAD OF GRAV-TOP CANE 



IS6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The methods here described are the common and cheap 
ones, such as any farmer can employ. It may be advan- 
tageous, when operations of considerable extent are 
contemplated, to arrange a regular system of shallow 
evaporating pans for the concentration of the syrup, similar 
to those now used in Vermont for making maple sugar. 

Vacuum Pans. — It is evident that no ordinary methods 
can compete with those of a regular sugar refinery, where 
vacuum pans are employed, and evaporation is conse- 
quently carried on at a very low temperature. If the 
planter should raise sufficiently large crops to warrant the 
expense of such an apparatus on his farm, he would not 
fail to manufacture larger quantities of sugar, and to 
operate with perfect success in sugar-making; but this can 
be done only in the Southern, Middle, or Western States, 
where extensive farming is common. Those who wish to 
have their brown sugar clarified can send it to some of the 
large refineries, where the operations may be completed 
and the sugar put up in the usual form of white loaves. 

Syrtip. — A very large proportion of our agricultural 
people will doubtless be satisfied with the production of a 
good syrup from this plant. They may obtain it by follow- 
ing- the methods described in the first part of this paper, or 
theymay omit the lime and make an agreeable but slightly 
acidulous syrup, that will be of a lighter color than that 
which has been limed. 

This syrup is not liable to crystallize, owing to the 
presence of acid matter. The unripe canes can be employed 
for making molasses and alcohol, but, as before stated, 
will not yield true cane sugar. 

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 

Let no person suppose that syrup, much less sugar, 
can be made without serious study of the art. Nothing 
must be left to chance. The eye of the master must be 
untiring. But, with a little care, both sugar and syrup of 



CROPS FOR SUGAR-MAKING. I 57 

fair quality may be made at comparatively little expense. 

Where it is practicable to raise the cane and cart it to 
sugar works, which are not more than five miles distant, 
to be worked on shares, that will, undoubtedly, be the 
better way. 

When works are erected and the cane can be sold for 
cash, after being divested of the seed, which is as valuable 
for feeding, pound for pound, as corn, this will be profitable. 

We have not written to induce any person to undertake 
the manufacture of sugar in a small way, for we do not 
believe it can be made profitable. 

Still, we repeat that when capital and skilled labor 
undertake the manufacture of sorghum in a business way, 
the rich sandy, and sandy-loam region north and south, 
east, and especially west of the Mississippi, will supply 
sufficient sugar, with the cane sugar south, to enable the 
United States, instead of being obliged to import nearly all 
the sugar consumed within her territory, to become an 
exporter of sugar to other countries. 



Maple Sugar. 

In making maple sugar, the syrup is concentrated by 
any of the modern condensing pans in use for sorghum. 
The sap is obtained by tapping maple-trees, the sugar- 
maple producing sugar, and the red (soft) maple and ash- 
leaved maple yielding syrup liberally. 

Boiling the Sap. — -The quantity of sap that can be 
boiled in a given time depends on many circumstances. 
Sap will boil much faster on a clear day than on a cloudy 
or stormy one, and weak sap will boil away faster than 
that which is stronger. 

Sap Buckets. — The buckets used to catch the sap are 
made both of wood and tin, the wooden ones being gener- 
ally used. These are made of pine lumber, hooped with 



158 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

iron, and painted with oil paint on both sideS ; at the top 
of the bucket, on the outside, is an ear made of sheet iron, 
through which is a hole large enough for the spike to pass 
on which it is hung. The spouts used for carrying the sap 
from the tree to the bucket are principally made of wood, 
although metallic ones are better. 

The spikes for hanging the bucket on the tree are made 
of wrought iron, and are about two inches in length, with 
the head on one side of the nail to prevent the bucket from 
slipping off. All these may be bought ready-made, or 
rough substitutes, including troughs for holding the sap, 
may be made on the farm, and the sap boiled in a common 
potash kettle. 

TAPPING THE TREES. 

A common half-inch bit is used for tapping the tree, 
though many use one seven-sixteenths of an inch for that 
purpose, and a one-half inch bit for boring the second time. 
In all sugar lots where the surface of the land will admit of 
a team being used, the sap is drawn from the different 
parts of the lot to the sugar-house on sleds. 

Gathering Tubs. — For this purpose, a gathering tub, 
holding three or four barrels, is used. This tub is made 
with a head in both ends, the diameter of the bottom being 
much larger than the top, to prevent it from tipping when 
filled. In the top of the tub a hole is cut large enough to 
turn in the sap ; a lid is made to fit this hole, so that when 
the tub is filled it can be closed tight, to prevent the sap 
from being wasted in going to the house. The tub is 
fastened on the sled with stakes or chains. 

Storing Tubs. — The tubs in the house, for storing, are 
usually about the size of the gathering tubs ; they have but 
one head, and the tops of these are the largest. Both the 
gathering and storing tubs are made of spruce or pine 
planks, hooped with iron, and usually painted on the out- 
side. The storing tubs should be painted on the inside. 



CROPS FOR SUGAR-MAKING. 159 

like the buckets, to prevent them from becoming sour and 
discolored with mildew. Whenever storing tubs or buckets 
become sour, they should be immediately washed clean, 
before putting more sap in them. 

BOILING AND SUGARING. 

The reduction of the sap is carried on precisely as 
recommended for sorghum. No clarifying is needed, except 
filtering, since, the weather being near the freezing point 
when maple-sugar is made, it does not change readily. If 
it should do so, a little milk of lime may be used to neutral- 
ize the acid; but this portion should be kept by itself. 

The sooner the sap is converted into sugar after it 
leaves the tree, the better; and especially is this the case 
when the weather grows warm; for the sap is liable to sour 
in the buckets, and also in the store tubs. When the 
weather is quite warm — as it sometimes is, for a day or 
two — sap will sour in twenty-four hours. At such times, 
the boiling should be forced to the utmost extent, night and 
day, if necessary. At no time should much sap be allowed 
to accumulate on hand, if it can possibly be avoided. After 
the sap has been gathered, if there is dirt in it without ice, 
it may be strained as it runs into the pans. After the boil- 
ing has commenced, it should be kept up without cessation 
until it is reduced to syrup, or as thick as it can be strained 
through a flannel or cloth when taken from the fire. 

SUGARING OFF. 

Sugaring is best done in a deep kettle when the 
syrup has settled after the first boiling. Pour off that part 
which is clear into the pan or kettle to be used in boiling 
it, leaving the sediment in the tub. By turning some hot 
sap into this, it can be settled again, and either boiled down 
by itself or with the next lot of syrup. After the syrup is 
placed on the fire, it should be kept boiling with a steady 
fire until it is done. 

Running Over. — Sometimes, while boiling, it is inclined 



l6o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

to run over, To prevent this, put a piece of butter the 
size of a marble into it, and sometimes it will be necessary 
to put in a second or third piece before it will settle. A 
very good way is to take a stick long enough to reach 
across the vessel ; lay the stick across the top of it, and 
from the stick suspend a piece of fat pork ; when the syrup 
rises against the pork, it has the same effect as the butter. 
If neither of these methods will prevent the syrup from 
running over, the heat of the fire must be reduced until it 
boils steadily. 

How Lo7ig to Boil. — The degree of hardness to which 
the sugar needs to be boiled depends on the subsequent 
treatment. If it is to be put into tubs and drained, it 
should be boiled only enough to have it granulate readily ; 
if it is to be put into cakes, it should be boiled so much 
that it will not drain at all ; it is necessary to boil it as long 
as it can and not burn. 

TO TELL WHEN SUGAR IS DONE. 

There are various ways of telling when the sugar is boiled 
enough. A convenient and good way is, when snow can 
be obtained, to have a dish of snow, and when some of the 
hot sugar is put on the snow, if it does not run into the 
snow, but cools in the form of wax on the surface of the 
snow, it is done enough to put into tubs to drain. But 
when it is to be caked or stirred, it should be boiled until 
when it is cooled on the snow it will break like ice or 
glass. 

When snow cannot be obtained, stir some of the sugar 
in a dish, and as soon as it will granulate, it is done enough 
to drain ; when it will form bubbles, feathers or ribbons, 
on being blown, it is done enough to cake or stir. To try 
it in this way, take a small wire or stick and form one end 
into a loop ; dip this loop into the sugar and blow through 
it to produce the forms described. When the sugar is 
done, it should be taken from the fire immediately, and 



CROPS FOR SUGAR-MAKING. 



i6r 



cooled. It is then ready to be put up in any way that may 
be wanted. 

In case the sap is taken from any of the trees named, 
except the sugar-maple, it is boiled at once into syrup, that 
when cold will be of good consistency. 




•^ARRANGEMENT OF FARMS.e^ 



G6MBBR5F JI^S fRSBISF IF^ ¥§B §0ffiBS5FBaS. 



Pioneer Farming. 



BEFORE the great prairie region of the West was 
available to settlement, opening a farm was a far more 
serious business than since that time. Forty or fifty years 
ago, when the pioneers began to settle in the prairie 
region, the obstacles to be encountered were also far 
greater than in this day of cheap transportation, when rail- 
way lines pierce a wilderness of grass in advance, almost 
of civilization, and are ready to carry off the products of 
the settlers. 

The pioneers of to-day know little of the discomforts 
and privations of those who opened the timbered farms of 




MODERN PRAIRIE BREAKER. 



the country North and South, or of the difficulties en- 
countered in the settlement of the prairie regions of 
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Eastern Kansas, and 
the earlier settled portions of Texas. In that day imple- 
ments were clumsy and means of transportation primitive. 
Only think of the dreary teaming, sometimes for over a 
hundred miles, to obtain a few necessaries, clothing and 
medicines ; camping at night on the road, and returning 
worn out with a journey of two or three weeks ! 



16S 



l66 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Nowadays the pioneer farmer generally markets his 
crops and receives his supplies by rail, and he can do five 
times the work with the improved implements that he could 
forty years ago. In place of the clumsy plow, drawn by a 
long string of oxen, and doing poor work, the prairie is 
turned by a plow, drawn by two horses, the sharp share 
and rolling coulter slicing even furrows of the tough sod 
as thin as may be desired, so that in the autumn the whole 
is easily re-plowed for that universal crop of the pioneer 
— wheat. 

Look to the Details. 



It is attention to details that makes the whole system 
of labor perfect. Water furrows should be drawn at the 
proper time in the fields ; lands laid out correctly for plow- 
ing; the furrows straight and equal in depth and width, 
according to the soil and the requirements of the crop. On 
a well-conducted farm there is no slighting of work at the 
corners, or in the final plowing of headlands, and the hands 
are required to use constant care that every hill of a row is 
properly cultivated. 

If a field of grass or grain is to be cut, the first swath 
will be straight and the second will be perfect. 

There will be no shirking or weaving by the team ; they 
will have strength for their work, from proper care and 
feeding, and will have been taught by kind, but decisive 
training, just what is expected of them. They will be 
driven straight out at the end to the proper place to stop. 
They will be brought about so the machine will enter cor- 
rectly and cut its full width at the first movement of the 
knives. 

The track-clearer will be adjusted exactly right on the 
grass, will not interfere with the working of the machine at 
the next round, and yet will be evenly spread to the sun. 
The sheaves of grain will be bound in equal bundles and 



COMFORT AND PROFIT IN THE HOMESTEAD. \6^ 

of proper size, according to the ripeness and stoutness of 
the grain. The grass will be raked into straight windrows; 
the hay-cocks even and of uniform size ; the shocks of 
grain in straight lines through the field, firm, and carefully 
capped. There is profit here ; there has been no prevent- 
able loss, and all things have been done in the cheapest 
manner — cheapest, because most economically consistent 
with good work. So with every labor of the farm. 

Improving the Farm. 

The second year finds him with a mellowing soil, upon 
which any of the cereal grains may be sown, and upon 
which corn may be raised at the rate of sixty acres to the 
hand and team; so he goes on breaking more land year by 
year. Other settlers gather around him ; cave or sod 
houses are exchanged for more comfortable dwellings, 
small though they may be. 

Orchards grow green, young groves are planted, orna- 
mental trees, shrubs and vines, find a place in the door- 
yard, or cluster about the porches and windows of the 
dwelling. 

Meadows are laid down, improved stock crop the sweet 
grass, under-drains laid along the valleys form cool rills 
upon the once arid prairie, or the wind -mill pumps the water 
from the greater depths. 

A settlement becomes a hamlet, then a village — a city 
— and the busy hum of machinery tells how, in a short ten 
years, perhaps, this wonderful transformation has been 
accomplished. How? By the indomitable will and in- 
dustry of a people, the division of labor, and the intelligent 
application of machinery to the various industries of life. 

True Success in Farming. 

Success in farming nowadays depends more upon cor- 
rect methods than upon grinding hard work. Good farm- 



l68 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ers do not go out in the morning and begin the day's work in 
a haphazard way. If plowing is to be done, no time is to 
be lost in scouring the plows, while teams and hands are 
waiting. The plows have been thoroughly cleaned, rubbed 
dry and the metal parts slightly, but evenly, oiled. If the 
plow has been out of use for some time, the metal has been 
thinly painted with lamp-black and kerosene oil, and put 
away where this coating would not be rubbed off. Thus, 
the first furrow turned is. as good as the last. 

Every tool should thus be kept in condition for service 
and duplicates of bolts ready to meet any small loss. The 
farmer should also be able himself to do riveting and minor 
repairs, and bad weather utilized for grinding or filing the 
cutting surfaces. Work should be systematized; done at 
the hours for work, and there should be other hours for 
rest and amusement. There should be a place for every- 
thing and everything in its place. A time for labor and a 
time for play. 



Thrift and Unthrift Illustrated. 



Shall we give the other side of this picture? It may 
be seen in every neighborhood. There are men whose 
work is never done in season, nor well done at any time. 
Their implements are always " lying about loose," but too 
often the owner may be found " tight" enough at the vil- 
lage grocery. They are of that class who insist that 
" farming don't pay." Their farms are mortgaged, grad- 
ually run down, and are absorbed by their more enterprising 
neighbors! They " don't believe in book larnin'," yet they 
have faith enough in their calling to think they may succeed 
in a new country. 

The out-door indications are generally an index to the 
inner life. The surroundings of the man who " never has 
time " will not be unlike the opposite picture. His imple- 



COMFORT AND PROFIT IN THE HOMESTEAD. 



169 



ments will lie around ; his animaiswill rest where they can. 
He saves manure carefully — just where it is thrown out 
from the barn-stable. At last, the accumulations, which 
have been trodden under foot, increase, until a mountain 




' SHALL I MOVE THK PAKN OR THli MANURE-PILE 



rises, accessible only by strong-winged fowls. Something 
must be done. The indolent farmer says : "Yes, Johnny, 
I calc'late we must stratin out that manure. We can't git 
the barn-door open any more.'' 

Sensible son: " Why don't ye move the barn, dad? It'll 
be a heap easier." 

Will the barn be moved ? No. Will the manure pile 
be carted to the fields ? No, there is no time. It will be 
" stratined out," and the mortgage, constantly accumulat- 
ing, will, at length, straighten out the indolent farmer. 



I70 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



The Careful Farmer's Barn. 



Let us look at another picture. There is neither waste 
nor extravagance here. Careful management and business 
tact have kept Farmer Skillful steadily on the road to suc- 
cess. 

First, a small barn was built. At the end of a few 
years it was shored up, a stope foundation put under it, 
and it was filled with stock. All manure made was hauled 
to the field, and the yard kept perfectly clean. The central 




THE SUCCESSKUL FARMER S MODEL BARN. 



figure in the illustration shows the first barn. Additions 
were gradually made, until, about the time Farmer Indolent 
was " calc'lating" to "stratin out that manure," Farmer 
Skillful's barn and yard presented the appearance shown in 
the companion illustration. 

There is nothing extravagant about this ; nothing for 
show, but everything is solid and substantial. It fronts 
east; the main building is 35x45; the south wing, the first 
addition made, is 24x45 ; the north wing 30x50, and both 
lap on the main building ten feet. The basement walls are 
eight feet high by two feet thick. There is a central shed 
under each wing for manure, which is regularly carted out. 
This gives complete shelter for the store stock. 



COMFORT AND PROFIT IN THE HOMESTEAD. I/I 



How to Select a Claim of Land. 



When settling in a new country there are many things 
that' require careful thought. The intending settler should 
know something about soils, texture and composition; 
drainage, water supply, above and below ground; summer 
and winter climate, and the general adaptability of the land 
to present and future crops to be raised. Much of this 
may be learned from books, but, so much is written that 
the beginner is befogged. A few salient points, however, 
may well be borne in mind: 

Vegetation as an Index to the Soil. — Observe the char- 
acter of the vegetation on the surface. The prairie dock, 
or compass plant, shows a rich, moist soil, adapted to 
Indian corn or other soft-land crops. Hazel brush, the 
woody-rooted red root, amaranth, indigo weed, and short 
grasses indicate a good wheat soil — firm, fertile and dry. 
Horse weed, wild artichoke, and others of the sunflower 
tribe, show a rich, deep, warm soil, such as is usually 
found on arable river bottoms. All the sedges indicate 
cold, wet land. Thistles are found on rich, dry bottoms. 
Wild red-top, and the taller and more slender of the wild 
grasses, indicate good meadow land. Hence, by carefully 
observing the natural vegetation of a country — for each 
soil grows its characteristic plants — a pretty good idea 
may be formed of the value of the land. 

How to Test the Soil. — Provide yourself with a small 
ground augur. With this you may judge of the nature 
and value both of the surface and sub-soil. If it is black 
and sandy, or loamy and friable, a chocolate, or even light 
brown, it is usually first-rate. 

The color of the soil is, however, not always an indi- 
cation of its value. A black soil indicates a humus soil if 
very light in gravity, or if heavy in weight it may contain 
charcoal and humus combined. Many light-colored soils 



172 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

are excellent and lasting, especially for the cereals and 
grass. If the sub-soil is a stiff, tenaceous, pasty clay, 
reflect before selecting it, unless it lies at a considerable 
depth below the surface. If hard-pan, reject it. 



Diversity of Crops. 



The advantage of a diversity of crops is, if one fails 
you can have another to depend on. You also prevent 
your harvest coming on all together, which is an important 
point. A small area — the best you have — should be 
reserved for the garden, for potatoes, and for a field of 
corn sufficient, with the oats, to feed the team and make 
meal. Upon this land haul all the manure you have made, 
and plow it well in. 

From this time on, break all the new land possible, and 
chop in corn. It will make excellent feed for milch cows, 
calves, steers, working oxen and hogs. Backset this at the 
proper time for the next year's work. 



Wind-Breaks and Groves. 



In prairie countries, the question of timber is an import- 
ant one. However cheap other fuel may be, trees are 
needed for poles, fence-posts, wagon-racks, levers, founda- 
tions for stacks, and, more important than all, shelter for 
cattle and for the fields ; this last not the least in import- 
ance. 

The Timber Plantation. — The timber plantation should 
be placed where it will be easy of access, and where, at the 
same time, it will afford shelter for the farm buildings and 
stock. Planted timber has these advantages : you have 
the desired varieties just where you want them. Ash will 
give you timber where strength is required ; catalpa is 



COMFORT AND PROFIT IN THE HOMESTEAD. 1 73 

valuable for posts, stakes, etc.; pine, larch and spruce for 
beams and light poles ; chestnut, hickory, butternut and 
walnut for their nuts, and all of the latter for their timber. 
In forming these, their uses must be borne in mind. Ten 
or twelve years bring the nut trees into bearing. The 
same length of time forms the most impervious wind-breaks 
of evergreens, and will give split posts from the catalpa. 
Willows and cottonwood are valuable at five or six years 
old, and all yearly increase in value. 

How to Start a Grove. — ^ Plant your grove as you would 
a corn field — in rows four feet apart, but thickly in the 
rows. These may be gradually thinned to form wind- 
breaks, until the trees stand four feet by four. As they 
begin to crowd, take out each alternate row, one way, and 
then, again, the other. They will now stand eight feet 
apart. Still another thinning, at two operations, will leave 
them sixteen feet apart. When finally thinned to thirty- 
two feet each way you have a noble grove, that has paid its 
cost many times, and is still worth more than any equal 
area on the farm. Your wind-breaks have grown into 
noble timber, beneath which stock may find shade in sum- 
mer and shelter in winter. The increased crops from your 
fields have many times repaid their cost, and the farm itself 
has become of far greater value than the bare acres 
would be. 



Starting the Orchard. 



The wise man, beginning a farm far. from nurseries, 
will provide himself, not later than the second spring, 
with material for an orchard, and will have prepared suffi- 
cient land for his permanent garden of small fruits, or at 
least for the plants. What are called maiden trees — trees 
one year old from the graft — may be ordered, or budded 
trees of the previous year. 



174 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



The Trees to Plant. — Root grafts of apples, pears and 
cherries ; budded peaches ; cuttings of grape, currant and 
gooseberry; young roots of raspberry and blackberry; 
eyes of rhubarb, for the kitchen garden ; and cuttings of 
Cottonwood, white willow and mulberry ; seeds of catalpa, 
and the nut trees mentioned, may be obtained. Later come 
seeds of ash -leaved, white-leaved and sugar maples, and 
of ash. The apples, pears, peaches, cherries, and the 
cuttings of the cottonwoods and willows may be planted in 
well-pulverized soil, in rows four feet apart by twelve 
inches in the rows ; the cuttings, except those mentioned 
above, in two-feet rows, by three inches in the row. 




ORCHARD AND WIND-BREAKS. 



Put rows eighteen inches apart by six inches in the row, 
and plant the other tree seeds thicker. 

Transplanting. — A year, or two years later, remove to 
the position where they are permanently to stand. The 
first trees may remain in the rows three years. The other 
plants and the rhubarb should be taken to the garden the 
succeeding year. 

The Result. — In the end you will see the economy of all 
this, when you find yourself three or four years in advance 
of your more tardy neighbors. Do not, however, hide your 
knowledge. Perhaps some will join you, and thus save 
expense in buying and transportation. 



How to Clear a Timbered Farm. 



The clearing of a timbered farm is a very different affair 
from opening up a prairie, and yet, aside from the hard labor 
of chopping and logging, not an unpleasant task. A man 



COMFORT AND PROFIT IN THE HOMESTEAD. 175 

may not accomplish results so fast, but some comforts can 
soon be attained. When the timber is valuable, money can 
be earned at once by chopping and delivering- the logs at the 
mill, either by hauling direct, or to the nearest stream to 
be rafted. 

Saving Valuable Timber. — If not valuable for timber, 
the trees may be cut, logged together in the usual way, and 
burned, the ashes sold for making potash, or leached and 
boiled on the farm. If there be no present sale for them, 
the valuable logs, especially walnut and pine, should be 
rolled into triangular heaps, well raised from the ground, 
with skids between each layer, covered with a crotch and 
pole roof, and this again with bark, to shed the rain. They 
will thus remain for many years, with a little looking after, 
until increasing population demands the erection of mills 
for sawing. Of the oak, hickory, maple and other valua- 
ble hard woods, the first may be converted into posts, the 
second into firewood and the others into rails. 



Deadening Timber. 



The first crop is often raised under deadening timber, 
where the larger trees have been girdled by cutting out a 
narrow circle around the trunk down through the sap- 
wood, before the buds have started. The smaller timber 
is chopped and burned with the dry leaves and trash; all 
saplings, say those under four iriches through, and all 
bushes are grubbed with a mattock, to add to the fire. Then 
the crop is sowed or planted without plowing, and har- 
rowed or hoed in, so far as small grain is concerned, and 
the corn and potatoes dropped where a place offers, and 
cultivated entirely by hand. 

This is tedious and slow, but all the heavily timbered 
farms of the country were originally opened in this way. 
The only revenue while the crop was growing was in the 



176 THE PRACTICAL HOME EARMER. 

potash made from the ashes of the burned tunber. There 
are, however, now but very few localities in the United 
States wh^re the timber will not pay handsomely for the 
labor. Oak and hemlock bark is sought far and wide by 
tanners. The logs are sawn into timber and lumber by 
portable saw-mills, and the cord-wood finds a ready sale. 



The Work of Improvement. 



The work of clearing and preparing the timber goes 
steadily on from year to year. Field is added to field, each 
being seeded to grass as soon as possible, until the smaller 
stumps can be drawn out. Up to the time when grass can 
be produced the stock subsist on what they can find in the 
summer, on mast in the autumn, and on the tender twigs 
and buds of the trees chopped in the winter. Hogs, except 
in a very inclement climate, will manage to live the year 
round, since the ground seldom freezes deeply in the dense 
forest, and nuts and roots furnish them with food. 

As field after field of grass is added, the calves grow 
up into cows, and butter and cheese are made. The idea 
in clearing timber farms being that all the stock possible 
must be carried ; the only care necessary being not to keep 
too many animals until grass and hay can be made. It 
takes a great deal of browsing to support a cow, and it is 
a make-shift at best. 

Feeding grain raised in the laborious manner named 
must not be thought of. Only the necessities of the family 
should be looked after. When grass is produced, add to 
your live stock by every possible means. It is indeed hard 
labor to " hew a farm from the forest, " yet it has many com- 
forts not to be enjoyed by those who open and improve a 
prairie. Nevertheless we advise no one to take the timber 
farm, from choice, if the prairie may be had. 



FARMS AND THEIR IMPROVEMENT. 177 

Still, if the prairie farm is not available, do not refuse 
the timber because you are not a chopper. Two months' 
practice will enable you to swing the "woodman's axe" 
deftly, and in three months you can carry the broadaxe 
" true to the line." 



Fkrtvis krd Tbgir ImPRe^DGmGRT. 



Soils Indicating Variety of Crops. 



The crop best suited to the soil may generally be told 
by the natural or wild vegetation found upon it. Hazel 
brush and red root (the hard, woody-rooted species) are 
indications of a good wheat soil. Why? They tell of a 
rich, and at the same time, firm soil. All the cereal crops 
will do well on such land. As a rule, our upland prairie 
soils are rich in in the phosphates and potash. Heavy- 
timbered lands usually have what may be called hard or 
firm soils, well adapted to wheat, rye, sorghum, sweet pota- 
toes, onions, and, when there is moisture enough, to flat 
turnips and the pasture grasses. 

The lower lands, covered with timber, often resemble 
what are known as soft soils ; that is, they contain much 
humus, and are adapted to Indian corn, the common 
potato, garden crops, and the meadow grasses. 

Adaptation of Crops to Localities. 



When far from a market it would be unwise to cultivate 
much corn or oats, unless the farmer has stock to feed it to. 
If his stock is cattle and hogs, he would still be wrong in 
raising large fields of oats to fatten them. His crops, as 
before stated, must be of wheat, barley, linseed, grass, and 



178 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



clover seed. Live stock being his main object, hogs, being 
the most easily multiplied, come first, then horned cattle, 
and lastly, as the country becomes more settled and free 
from predatory animals, sheep. All these may be driven 
long distances on foot to reach a market. 

As stock increases, Indian corn is more and more largely 
raised, and pastures are steadily increased. Later a regu- 
lar rotation is established; then railroads come to lessen the 
cost of transportation, and crops become more and more 




DAIRY-HOUSE ELEVATION. 



diversified from the increasing demand as towns and vil- 
lages spring up. 

Starting a Dairy. 



The wise man is he who foresees what this increasing 
population naturally requires, and meets the demand. He, 
for example, obtains a herd of really good milking cows in 
advance of his neiehbors. If there is not a orood demand 
for milk, he has the best procurable machinery and imple- 
ments put in for converting the milk into butter or cheese, 
and establishes his market. Others see that there is profit 
in this, and may solicit him to manufacture their milk also, 



FARMS AND THEIR IMPROVEMENT. 



179 



and this often grows to a large and profitable business, the 
farmer almost unwittingly lapsing into the tradesman and 
manufacturer. A careful study of the various crops will, 
however, indicate' many other lines of possible profit that 
may be built up by a careful study of soil, climate, locality, 
and the crops adapted to the increasing wants of a growing 
community. 

The Dairy-House. — A dairy-house, even though only 
an adjunct to the farm, is almost a necessity upon a large, 




COMPLETE DAIRY BARN — ELEVATION. 



well-managed country-place, and we herewith give a plan 
for the building required. 

The Building Described. — The building occupies 24x30 
feet of ground, and eight feet between floors. This will 
be sufficient for the product of forty cows, or with improved 
fixtures, of more than that number. The lower floor should 
be divided into two rooms ; one for butter, the other for 
cheese. The attic is the curing-room for cheese, and has, 
besides the ventilator in the roof, open spaces in the sides 
which may be closed by wickets, and which serve to admit 
the air. 

An abundance of fresh, cold water, or of ice, must be at 



l80 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

hand, as well as the necessary fixtures, including presses 
for cheese-making, tanks for setting cream, etc., all of 
which should be of the best patterns. If the soil will 
allow, a cellar should be dug, and, in all cases, the drain- 
pipes and drainage must be of the most thorough character. 

When to Hold the Crops. 

In a country so large as the United States there is little 
chance that there will be a failure of a given crop all over 
the country in any one year. The transportation facilities 
and the increasing railway extension year by year, preclude 
famine prices in any locality. The man who holds a crop 
of grain, wool, or other perishable commodity, hoping to 
get famine prices, always gets beaten. 

The time to hold a crop is from seasons of general 
plenty and low prices to a season of scarcity and high 
prices. In this, storage, interest on the capital employed, 
insurance against fire, insects and shrinkage in weight, must 
always be taken into account. If the present price be so 
low that it will pay to hold in spite of all these items of 
expense, do so, but as a rule the best price in any one year 
is the best price for all time. 



When to Sell the Crop. 



The knowledge of when and how to sell the crops of a 
farm, is among the most important of the many elements 
that go to make success in farming. The man who blindly 
accepts the prices bid by the grain-buyer in his local mar- 
ket is apt to come out loser. The farmer can tell the value 
of his crop on the farm as well as anybody else, if he 
keeps himself informed as to freights, prices in central 
markets, insurance and storage. 

If he does this he can always get full value for his pro- 



FARMS AND THEIR IMPROVEMENT. l8l 

ducts, even if there is no competition among buyers, or if 
there is only one buyer in the market. 

The farmer can always ship direct to some re-putable 
house in a central market, or he can combine with neigh- 
bors and do so. This will soon bring the local buyer to 
terms, since he can make some profit, as between the 
transportation rates that he gets and those which the 
farmer gets, who ships in smaller quantities. 

The farmer can often contract his whole crop for less 
money per bushel than he will sell one bushel for, and still 
make money. If he has kept himself informed on prices, 
and the probable crop of a given commodity, he may often 
contract to deliver at a stipulated time, and get far more 
money per bushel than his neighbor, who sells his crop in 
a kind of "hit or miss" way, a few bushels at a time, just 
as he feels in the humor for "going to town." 

Study the Probabilities. 

The ideal time to sell is when the market is at the 
highest, or as near this point as possible. You cannot 
find this out by asking the village buyer. You could no 
more expect him to tell you that which might take money 
out of his pocket, than your neighbor could expect you to 
tell him of a trade that would take money out of your 
pocket. 

The man who waits day by day for the market to go 
higher, and then refuses to sell when it has fallen some- 
what from the highest point, is very apt to sell at the 
lowest price. In like manner, the farmer who ships on his 
own account and holds until the highest market price is 
past, usually finds his produce reaching tide-water about 
the time the lowest market is reached. 

The fluctuations of the market are caused by so many 
varying influences that the wisest often are deceived. But 
the farmer who carefully figures profit and loss, who care- 



1 82 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

fully Studies the probable markets, who makes up his mind 
what should be a fair price, and sells when that price is 
reached, seldom, makes failures. He may not,- indeed, 
make "a hit" every time, but the "good hits" will be so 
largely beyond the bad ones that he will have no serious 
cause for complaint. 



Situation of the Farm. 



The situation of a farm is not considered by the aver- 
age farmer as of great importance, yet a good building site 
is often worth half the price of the farm. It should be 
sufficiently elevated to be above danger of miasma, and yet 
easy of access, and even on the largest farms not more 
than a quarter of a mile from a main road. The rise to the 
buildings should be easy, and, if possible, the whole farm 
should lie in view of the house or the barn. 

If a stream meanders through the farm or is capable of 
being turned to supply a pond, so much the better. Or if 
pipes may be laid to reach the house and barn, it will be a 
valuable improvement. 

Oak, maple, hickory, black walnut, wild cherry and ash 
are the most valuable timbers. If the fences are in good 
order, and if the house — however small and rough — is well 
cared for as to its surroundings, you may be pretty sure 
the land has notsuffered seriously. 

But, when you find a farm thoroughly in order, with 
buildings and fixtures, the full value will have to be paid. 
The owner will pretty well understand what it has cost, and 
the man who has once put his farm into perfect home con- 
dition is seldom in a hurry to leave it. Yet good, natural 
features unimproved are not rare to those who have the 
eyes to see them. Excellent places are plentiful in timbered 
districts where homes can be made, but the farms in tim- 
bered districts will average smaller than in prairie regions, 



FARMS AND THEIK IMFKUVEMENT. 1 83 

and where there is an original growth of hickory, burr oak, 
black walnut, sugar maple, white wood (tulip tree), the soil 
and subsoil will generally be excellent. 

Some Things to be Remembered. 



Do not select a farm in a malarious district, unless the 
situation is high. Even then it is better that you satisfy 
yourself as to the probable health of your family before 
buying. A very low-priced farm in such a district is to be 
very carefully investigated before buying. Never buy a 
farm with costly improvements in buildings and planting, 
if they are not suitable to your wants, unless the price is 
so low that you can afford to alter and reconstruct. A run- 
down farm, if the soil is there, is the place to improve to 
your liking ; but be sure that the farm is adapted to the 
crops you intend to cultivate. A high and dry farm is not 
adapted to grass, neither is moist, cold land, subject to every 
sweep of the wind, adapted to fruit. But, if protected by 
wind-breaks, the wet, cold land, after drainage, will be 
excellent for grass ; and, if not too tough, will make good 
grain land. If your system of farming requires large 
amounts of manure, a location near some city will greatly 
cheapen the cost of getting manure. The other remedy, 
and a good one always, is to keep plenty of stock. 

Do not buy a rocky, hilly or stumpy farm, unless 
pasturage is your object, and then the price should be low. 
For stock, except sheep, the moderately level land is 
always the best. If the soil is stiff and wet, under-drain- 
ing will cure it, and such soils, when under-drained, are 
generally the most productive ; but it will cost from fifty to 
eighty dollars for every acre you thoroughly under-drain. 
All this must be figured in. 

Do not buy too much land. The necessary repairs 
must be made, implements bought, the farm must be 
stocked, and a proper sum reserved for working capital. 



1 84 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Fifty acres to each hand to be employed is lully as much 
as a good manager should undertake to work, even in the 
West, where the obstacles to thorough cultivation are less 
than in most other countries, unless stock-feeding is to be 
the principal object. 

Before you decide finally, remember that farming 
requires fully as much thought as any other business; but 
all the requirements may soon be mastered by application. 
Farming is no longer the drudgery it was fifty years ago. 
The comforts and the elegancies are by no means to be 
overlooked. The man with five thousand dollars, or 
more, of capital, especially if he have a growing family, 
needing schools, may do far better to invest the money in 
an improved or partly improved farm, with schools, churches 
and society, rather than isolate them by going to the far 
West, and buying himself" land poor." 

Leasing a Farm. 

We do not advise any man who has money enough to 
stock a farm, however moderately, to lease. If, however, 
it is desirable to lease a farm, on account of the advantages 
offered by society, settlements and markets, nothing should 
be left to chance. Everything must be in black and white, 
and so plainly stated in the lease that there can be no 
room for dispute. Every permanent improvement made 
by the tenant should be paid for by the landlord, and every 
improvement made by the landlord, at the request of the 
tenant, will become an additional consideration. 

Some leases are so carefully drawn, that the number of 
loads of manure to be made yearly is a condition, and to 
what particular crops these are to be applied ; even the 
rotation of crops is often stipulated. The object, both of 
the tenant and landlord, is to get as good terms as possible 
for himself. In making a contract, of whatever kind, 
avoid all unnecessary words, and be sure that the meaning 
is clear. 



Fgrggs, Bgdggs krd Grtgs. 



m 



Relative Cost of Fences and Buildings. 

HOSE States of the American Union having cast-iron- 
laws regulating the kind of fence and the space 
between boards or rails, would do well to repea.1 them. It is 
a generajly accepted fact that the fences of the country cost 
more than the buildings. They must be renewed, on an 
average, about once in twelve years. The Secretary of the 
Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, a few years ago, 



nnnnnnnnnnnnn ,- 




iiiiiii I 



± 



A SOUTHERN STRAP-KINGE FARM GATE. 



estimated the cost of the perishable fences of the State to 
be $40,000,000, reckoning one rod of fence at eighty-five 
cents. More recently, a careful and unprejudiced observer, 
Mr. David Williams, of Walworth County, Wis., says: 

" I have, with the assistance of a number of well- 
informed farmers of this county, made a careful computation 
of the first cost, annual deterioration, per cent., and cost of 
annual repair. There are sixteen townships, or seven hun- 
dred and fifty-six square miles in the county. Estimating 
one-sixteenth as lake, ponds, or abandoned lands, gives five 



185 



1 86 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



hundred and forty square miles, or 345,600 acres of im- 
proved or inclosed land. This, if fenced into forty-acre 
lots, will require five rods of fence to the acre (a careful 
estimate gives twenty-five acres as the average size of 
fields), or 1,728,000 rods of fence, exclusive of ornamental 
and village fences. Estimating one-eighth of this as di- 
vision fence, and therefore duplicated in the foregoing 
estimate, and to include also temporary and comparatively 
worthless fence, will give in even numbers 1,500,000 rods 




END-POST AND BRACES FOR WIRE FENCE OK TRELLIS. 

of farm fence for the county, 100,000 rods for each town- 
ship (one-sixteenth of the total area having been thrown 
out of the estimate as lakes, ponds, or abandoned lands) 
of improved or inclosed lands. From carefully prepared 
data, I find about two-fifths to be highway fence, making 
600,000 rods of highway fence for the county, and 40,000 
rods for each township. 

" Estimating the cost of this fence at $1 per rod, gives 
$1,500,000 for the county, and $100,000 for each township. 



FENCES, HEDGES AND GATES. 



187 



Two-fifths of this for highway fences gives $600,000 for the 
county, and $40,000 for each township, or a total cost of all 

farm fence of $4.34, nearly, per acre, 
and a cost of $1.73 per acre of high- 
way fence. Estimating ten per cent. 
on first cost for annual deterioration 
and repairs, and seven per cent, in- 
terest on first cost, gives $275,000 
as the aggregate annual cost of 
farm fence for the county, and $18,- 
n Zii-oi fo*" each township. Fully two- 
\\ fifths of this are for highway fence. If 
y to this sum be added the cost of village 
fences — mainly made necessary by the 
pernicious habit of using the highway as a public pasture, 
the total cost of fence for the county will be swelled to 
the considerable sum of $1,750,000, and the annual cost 

to $297,500-" 




SLIDING GATES. 



Cost of Farm Fences in the United States. 




GATE WITH TIE LATCH. 



The cost of the farm fences in the United States has 
been estimated at $1,350,000,000, and their annual mainte- 
nance at $250,000,000. Thirty years ago, 
the annual cost of repairing fences in 
Pennsylvania was about $10,000,000. The 
annual cost of fencing in New York State 
was placed at $13,500,000. In Illinois and some other 
Western States, fencing is not compulsory. The people 
of a county or township can decide by vote, whether they 
will have fences at all, or what shall constitute a lawful 
fence. This should be the rule everywhere. 

No-Fence Laws. — When tried in Livingston County, 
Illinois, some years ago, the no-fence law worked excel- 
lently. We have seen cattle herded within a few rods of 



188 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Standing corn, and they would take the road, morning and 
evening, quietly enough under the care of the herdsmen. 
It is cheaper to fence cattle in than to fence them out, 
especially in all neighborhoods where pasturage is not the 
principal industry. 



Stringing a Wire Fence. 

Set the posts as for a board fence. Mark, the places 
where the wires are to be strung on the posts. Never use 

a single wire. The contraction and 
expansion will bother you more than 
it is worth, whether it be barbed or 
not. Use two wires twisted together, 
or flat strips twisted. The objection 
to barbed wire is more theoretical 
than practical. Few animals are ever hurt with the barbs, 
and seldom is any but a breachy animal hurt at all, unless 
it may be horses or colts at play, or Texas or other semi- 
wild cattle, which do not see the wire. For such, a pole 
on top will serve as a warning. 

To put up the fence take the reel of wire, placed on a 
wagon so it will revolve. Fasten one end to the end post, 
which must have been well 




FENCE FOR A HILLSIDE. 



braced to stand the strain, [ 

ine, PTTTs 



the posts being placed ni 
ten or twelve feet apart, ac- 
cording to the strength of 
the fence required. Drive 
the waeon forward until the 
end of the fence is reached, U 
strain to the required tension 
upon a roller turned by hand-spikes or other suitable de- 
vice. Drive the staples properly into the posts, and so 
proceed until the fence is of the required height. 



CORRECT FORM OF WATER GATE. 



FENCES, HEDGES AND GATES. 



189 



The manufacturers of each special wire usually furnish 
all necessary fixtures and full directions for putting up. In 
all prairie regions a good strip or double wire fence, whether 
barbed or not, is the cheapest and best stock fence made, 
if put on solid posts, not too far apart. 



Portable Fences. 




DOUBLE-BRACED GATE. 



Portable fences are seldom used in the United States, 
though they are sometimes useful for dividing off flush 
pastures where fattening stock are fed, thus making them 
eat off the best of the grass 
regularly, to be followed by 
store cattle to finish up. 
They are also useful for pen- 
ning off or for pasturing J 
sheep. 

The best unpatented fences 
we have ever used are strings 
of wire fence eight or ten rods 
long, with a small, round, 
carefully sharpened hard- 
wood post at each end, and strengthened at intervals of 
half a rod with upright slats of hard wood, an inch and a 
half square, to which the wire is stapled. The sections may 
be dragged to any desired spot while lying flat ; they are 
easily set up, the post driven, and if two guys of wire, 
fastened to slanting stakes, are used occasionally on the 
side from which the pressure may come, they are perfectly 
secure. It is not a bad plan to have enough of this fence 
to reach across a field. When not used for feeding off 
meadows, they are excellent for small pastures for calves, 
lambs or hogs, and also for confining hogs upon parts of 
a meadow or other land infested with the white grub. 
These swine will thoroughly destroy, by rooting out and 
eating, every grub in the infested land. 



190 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Bars and Gates. 



One of the tests of careful farming is the farm-gates. 
Bars are simply a make-shift for something better. They 
are never safe unless pinned or otherwise fastened, so they 
cannot be rubbed dowa by stock. They are dangerous to 
stock in passing through unless entirely removed; annoy- 
ing if a team is to be driven through them, and cost more 
in time, in a single year, than would pay for a good gate. 
They also cost about as much to make and put up as a 
single gate, that any farmer can make with a square, a saw, 
an augur, an axe, and a handful of nails. 

We shall elaborate somewhat on the subject of gates, 
and illustrate with a number of the more simple and prac- 
tical. The subject of gates is an important one to farmers, 
and hence a careful study of the various plans will be 
desirable. 

The Slide and Swing Gate. 



Farmers have been swindled out of large amounts of 
money, first and last, by the holders of a patent that never 

should have been issued. 
The principle of the slide 
and swing gate is older 
than the oldest inhabitant, 
and not patentable. The 
primitive gate is made as 
follows: Set two stakes di- 
"XBjOsTABLE SWING GATE. agoually togethcr and wide 

enough apart to admit the gate with plenty of play, but so 
that when the gate is closed the end will press against 
each stake. At the other end the gate rests on strong pins, 
so hooked that when movable pins are inserted the whole 
will be held firm. The gate is made by nailing inch boards 




HEDGES. 191 

upon two inch posts at each end. The braces extend from 
the bottom board to the board next the top. In the 
middle a strong batten extends from 
top to bottom, and is securely nailed 
with clinch nails. The gate is slid back 'i 
on a pin in the rear post under the top | 



§ 



— ^ 



board. When slid back until the cen- "^"^ ^"" 5""^- 

tral batten is reached, swing it around so that the team 
can pass. Twelve feet is wide enough for a load of hay 
and a person easily passes through by swinging it slightly. 
The forms of gates and the various attachments are so 
numerous that a full explanation of the principal ones would 
fill a volume. 



Bgdggs. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Hedges. 



V I tHERE is a practical use for the hedge in the pro- 
s-^ tection it gives, especially in the timberless districts, 
to the fields and stock, and to this we may add the 
pleasure a well-kept hedge affords the eye. The disad- 
vantages are, they are costly to keep in order ; they 
harbor weeds ; they take up much valuable land ; they 
prevent evaporation from roads, keeping them wet and 
muddy, and, if not carefully trimmed, they are unsightly. 
The question of fencing is one of the most important the 
farmer in any district has to meet, and this becomes more 
and more serious as we advance beyond the Mississippi, 
upon the vast plains, that were once considered a desert, 
but are now found to be among the most productive lands 
of the West. But ingenuity has solved the problem of 
enclosing regions far distant from timber, through im- 
provements in wire fencing. 



192 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



The Osage orange has played an important, in many 
districts an indispensable, part in the settlement of man\ 
prairie regions of the West. It may do so still in some 
remote regions, but neither this plant nor the three-thorned 
locust ( Glediisc/iia), the only two-hedge plants really 
adapted to the West, will be able to hold favor with those 
who regard space and cleanliness in fencing. But, as in 
any other operation, every farmer must judge for himself 
as to the economy of hedging. We believe that, simply as 
protection to fields, and as shelter to stock ftom sweeping 
winds — -lines, or, better, clumps of trees along boundaries 
and principal fields, will prove more useful than hedges. 



How to Prepare the Hedge-Row. 



Whether hedging ever again regains its hold upon 
public taste or no, it will be used on many farms and, 
eventually, in an ornamental way on every farm. The 




HEDGE CLirPER. 



Osage orange will only thrive on dry soil ; wet land is cer- 
tain death to it. Hence, in preparing for a hedge of this 
plant, it is necessary to raise a slight ridge, even upon high 
ground ; over low places this must be of some height, and 
have a waterway beneath, where the accumulation of water 
is to be carried away. In fact, all hedge plants do better 
on a slight ridge in prairie land, that in spring is always 
partially or fully saturated with water. 

This ridge may be entirely made with the plow, harrow 
and leveler. Eight feet in width is none too much. Plow 



HEDGES. 193 

first as deeply as possible by throwing out the soil, leaving 
the dead furrow where the hedge is to stand. This should 
be done in the autumn. In the spring, as soon as the soil 
is in good condition, plow the harrows back, and again, 
deep. Three plowings should form the ridge, except in 
low places, where earth may be added with the scraper. 
Harrow and level until the tilth is perfectly fine and 
smooth, and leave the ridge to settle until wanted for 
planting. 



Trimming the Hedge. 



It has been found not a good plan to attempt to keep 
Osage orange in shape by trimming and shearing, as prac- 
ticed for ornamental hedges. The most that can be done 
is to keep the upward growth within bounds by cutting 
back in the spring, and perhaps again in midsummer, to a 
heiofht of five feet. This may be done with the common 
corn or cane knife. When the stems of the plants have 
reached a diameter of about two inches it may be laid 
down. This is done by trimming up the sides so a man 
can work. The stems are then sawed two-thirds through 
with a rather fine saw, or cut and bent over in line by 
means of a very heavy pole, worked by a man on each 
side of the hedge, so the stems will lie at an angle of about 
twenty-five degrees. If they tend to rise they may be 
weighted down when necessary. This will reduce the 
height of the hedge to three feet or less, but the new 
growth will soon present an impenetrable barrier, and the 
following year the hedge will have attained its full height. 
All that will be required thereafter will be to prevent the 
branches rising about five feet by cutting the hedge to this 
height in the spring before the leaves start, and again at 
midsummer. This trimming may be done with a sharp 
corn knife, or with a similar tool made for the purpose, as 



194 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



heretofore shown. The strong limbs may be hooked off 
with a bill-hook, or with a hedge-clipper. For keeping 
out stock a well-kept Osage-orange hedge is impenetrable, 
and for this purpose it is useful, if not ornamental. 



Setting the Hedge. 




i-V 



The hedge plants have been bought and sorted into 
best, second-best and culls, the hedge-row is economically 
prepared as follows: Draw a straight line along 
the center of the ridge. With a steady horse 
throw out the earth with a bull-tongue plow or 
other implement that will move the earth to either 
side. Pass back and forth in this line, correcting 
it until it is perfectly straight and true. Upon a 
strong garden line, not less than two hundred 
feet long, sew strips of red flannel, at such dis- 
tances as you wish your plants, say ten to twelve 
inches. One man, with a bright, sharp spade, 
walking backwards along the line, thrusts in the 
spade, obliquely at every mark, presses the handle 
from him, and an assistant inserts the root. The 
spade is withdrawn, the earth is stepped on to 
compress it firmly about the bottom of the roots, 
leaving the plant fixed, and slanting somewhat, 
in the direction the workmen are going, the spade- 
man working backwards. Care must be taken 
that, when the earth is finally filled in around the 
plants, they are covered about an inch above the 
yellow portion of the root. To enable this to be 
done accurately, the line should be supported at 
proper intervals, at the desired height. The ob- 
ject in opening the trench is to save labor in 
planting, and by this means it may be accurately 
and speedily accomplished. 



CORN K.1NIKE 



HEDGES. 195 



Finishing the Planting — Cultivation. 



When thirty or forty rods of hedge has been set the 
bull-tong-ue may be used to carefully cover back the earth 
to the plants, after which they may be brought into line 
and the earth firmly packed around them, the sides of the 
ridge being left rough, the better to kill the first weeds that 
start. So proceed until you have all your plants set, first 
the best, then the second best, throwing away all inferior 
plants. If you have raised the plants set all culls in 
nursery rooms for future use, and if you buy them stipu- 



BILL HOOK. 



late for No. i plants and accept nothing else. These may 
be divided into firsts and seconds. The first season's cul- 
tivation may be wholly with the straddle-row cultivator, 
and the plants must be kept earthed so that the yellow 
root does not show. The second year's cultivation may be 
done with any implement that will throw shallow furrows 
to or from the plants. No trimming is necessary the first 
two years. The object is to get a strong root, especially 
in the North, where the plant is liable to damage in winter, 
until it is three or four years old. After this time it is 
nearly as hardy as the oak, on dry soils 



Drrirrgg. 



The Importance of Draining. 



Vl/HE railways of the West early saw the advantage of 
«-^ tile drainage, and the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis, 
and the Illinois Central set the example of transporting 
tiles, for the farmers, at nominal rates, well knowing that 
the increase in the productivity of the soil would soon 
amply repay them in increased freights. The farmers of 




DEEP-TILLER PLOW FOR WORKING DITCHES. 



Indiana, Illinois and Iowa are now eagerly working at sub- 
soil drainage, and thousands of acres are there yearly 
added to those already so improved. 

Uiidcr-draining. — Under-dr..in'ng is that system having 
subsoil water-ways formed of tiles, sto les, gravel, brush, 
poles, slabs, or even, in stiff clays, an. earth channel, pro- 
tected artificially, by which the surplus water of the soil is 
quickly percolated and carried ax^^ay. 

Thorough draining is that system of under-drainage 
whereby a tract of land otherwise unsuited to cultivation 
may be rendered uniformly arable and fertile. Drainage is 
as old as civilization. Our system is built upon an improved 
form of the old Roman system. Modern — thorough — 
drainage has only been generally possible since books, and 



1,6 



DRAINAGE. 197 

especially journals devoted to agriculture, have been com- 
mon, through the general education and consequent gen- 
eral intelligence of the masses. 



Practical Men on Tile Drainage. 



Tile drainage is an ancient art, lost during the dark 
ages, and slowly revived in modern days. Even in England, 
where the great value of farming land, the abundance of 
capital and the low rate of interest all favored its extension, 
the spread of its use has been slow. Let us give a short 
review of its history and the testimony of practical men in 
different parts of our country as to the benefits derived 
from it. 

Mr. John Johnston's Testitnotiy. — No person in the 
United States has probably exerted a wider influence in 
the early introduction of draining and persistent effort in 
doing the work thoroughly than Mr. John Johnston, who 
settled near Geneva, N. Y., and who, at a time when tile 
works were almost unknown in the United States, was 
obliged to import tile of the old-fashioned horseshoe pat- 
tern from England. He not only paid for his farm through 
the enhanced products per acre (and this in the face of the 
sneers of those about him, that he was "burying his money 
by putting crockery in the ground" ), but he kept on buy- 
ing and making tile pottery until he had 210,000 tile in the 
soil, paying for his original purchase of land and adding to 
his farm until he had over 300 acres in such a state of 
cultivation and productiveness that his would-be sympa- 
thizers might well hang their heads in shame that they 
could not have seen, when the first laid tile began to draw, 
that he was "sowing money to reap one hundred-fold;" 
in other words, getting one hundred per cent, yearly profit, 
and this when tile cost him $24 per thousand to make, for 
this was forty years ago. 



198 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Mr. Johnston says, among other things, that tihng paid 
for itself in ten years. One field of twenty acres that 
hardly produced ten bushels of corn per acre before drain- 
ing, produced after draining an average of eighty bushels 
per acre ; and it was also found that half the manure suf- 
ficed on drained land to that required on undrained land — 
that is, on land that previously was at times, during the 
growing season, sodden with water. 

A Dry Surface May Need Drainage. 



Nor is land apparently dry on the surface exempt from 
the necessity of drainage. Mr. Johnston had a field of 
thirteen acres on the shore of a lake, with a bluff bank 
from thirty to forty feet high descending nearly perpendic- 
ularly to the lake. The soil seemed dry, yet was not sat- 
isfactory in its crops. He engaged men to open a ditch, 
with the understanding that if water entered within eight 
hours he would have the whole field drained. The top 
soil was hard and dry, so much so that a pick had to be 
used. At the depth of a foot it was so wet and soft that it 
was easily spaded. As the ditches were opened, water 
flowed in and ran away from the outlet. It was thoroughly 
drained, and then commenced regularly to produce sixty to 
seventy bushels of corn per acre, and proportional crops of 
other grain. He testifies that he never saw a farm of one 
hundred acres but some portion of it would pay for drain- 
age. Every man in the West who has ever done any 
draining knows this will apply to all soils where the top 
and subsoil is not sand or gfravel. 



& 



What an Ohio Farmer Says. 



In the Ohio reports for 1878, Mr. S. J. Wooley testifies 
that drainage with him has increased the richness of his 
meadows and pasture, and it has not only improved the 




CROSS SECTION OF UNDERDRAIN. 



DRAINAGE. 199 

wealth of the people but alleviated the condition of ani- 
mals. This has too often been stated to be disproved. He 
says that a forty -acre field which, be- 
fore draining, produced not more 
than eight bushels per acre, pro- 
duced, after being drained, from sixty 
to eighty bushels per acre, and with 
much less labor of man and team. 
A thirty-acre field on the same farm 
was sown to wheat ; it winter-killed 
badly and was injured by rust. Since 
being drained it has produced large 
crops of superior wheat, and the crops have not been 
affected by the rust. 

So, also, on drairved land, potatoes were large and of 
fine quality, when before they were inferior and suffered 
from rot. The subsoil of this farm was a tough, sticky, 
blue clay, difficult to plow and work. Since it was drained, 
the clay has become friable, loose, easy to work and has 
changed color, so that now it is a fine, black loam, and 
works easily the whole season. But the writer adds, that 
if swampy timbered lands are suddenly drained, most of 
the timber will die — ^the oaks and hickories first, the 
change being first noticed in the tops. The young timber, 
however, accommodating itself quickly to the change, 
suffers but little, afterwards growing more thriftily than 
ever. In this connection we add : Land intended for plant- 
ing timber should not be tile-drained. The roots will 
inevitably, sooner or later, choke the drains. Here depend- 
ence must be had on surface or open drains, or else the 
drains may be filled with brush. 

Samuel Israel, Esq., near Mount Vernon, Ohio, in rela- 
tion to a farm of beech land, the subsoil a tenacious clay, 
abounding in low places holding surface water during the 
spring, f^ll and winter, testifies to the value of draining, 
and specifies that over $40 per acre had been realized 



200 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

from sixteen and one-half acres drained and planted in 
potatoes, and this without manure. 

How many farmers are there who might give similar 
testimony of lands which in dry seasons produce large 
crops, but which, one year with another, are wet and sod- 
den in the spring, and often, as last season, remain too wet 
to work until well into the summer? Had it not been for 
the wonderfully genial and pleasant autumn weather 
extending into November, of 1882-83, the corn crop of the 
State of Illinois would have been almost totally ruined in 
these years. 



Draining in Indiana. 



The wonderful results from drainage have been most 
thoroughly shown in Indiana. Commencing about ten 
years ago, the demand for tile has continued greater than 
the supply from year to year. At length the tile-makers 
of the State organized an association, in which is discussed 
the best form of tile, the quality of clay for working, and 
the gathering of statistics relative to drainage, and drain- 
age processes have been undertaken, which have been of 
great value generally, and have done much to spread cor- 
rect information, in connection with the efforts of the State 
Board of Agriculture in the same direction. Of the thou- 
sands upon thousands of acres there drained, the testimony 
is constant as to the money value of drained over undrained 
soils. Each recurring wet season goes more and more to 
intensify the belief that drainage is the one thing most 
needed to produce the best results in tillage upon our 
prairie soils, when they are flat and where they are under- 
laid with clay. Illinois, later, fell into line, and has now 
an active tile-makers' association. 

If such soils were tile-drained to a depth of three feet, 
the tiles laid in lines corresponding to the natural slope of 



DRAINAGE. 20I 

the soil, the whole of the land would be drained. If the 
underlying water were pretty uniform through the under 
surface, the drains would, even if laid three feet deep, re- 
quire to be, perhaps, thirty feet apart, in the case of strong, 
tenacious clay, and from this to forty or fifty feet in soils 
less tenacious. 

Again, in draining many soils, especially where stock- 
raising is the principal object, the most that will be neces- 
sary will be to run a main drain down the gently sloping 
valleys to carry off the superabundant water, to prevent 
long saturation and consequent slow evaporation at the 
surface, keeping the soil cold and sodden below the water 
line. This single drain will, as a rule, relieve all such 
lands, unless the valley is wide and flat. When such is the 
case, lateral drains must be laid to connect with the main 
drain, striking it not at right angles, but somewhat 
obliquely. 



Draining in Michigan. 



As long ago as 1867, a committee of the Michigan Agri- 
cultural Society, reporting on the subject of drainage, gave 
an account of the profits therefrom, the land in question 
comprising twenty-five acres of swale land, producing the 
coarsest vegetation — bog grass, flags, rushes and other 
worthless plants. About 2,400 feet of tile was laid, at an 
aggregate expense of $480. The grass product of the 
field the next season, after draining, gave $1,570; expense 
of crop, $541.25; drainage, $480; — $1,021.25, or a net 
profit of $548.75. The second year the land produced 
crops of the value of $1,425 ; expense of crop, $550, or a 
net profit of $875, equal to a rent of $35 an acre, on land 
originally worthless. 

The increase in value on arable lands, requiring only 
partial drainage to bring the whole into a homogeneous 



202 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

State, will be fully as great, or greater, according to the 
outlay, since a comparatively small portion only will need 
drainage, often not more than one acre in ten of the whole 
farm. 

Illinois Experience. 

In 1875 Messrs. Spalding & Co., Riverton, Illinois, 
made a report to the Department of Agriculture at Spring- 
field, Illinois, of the thorough draining of eighty acres 
of strong loam, the subsoil being strong clay and redish 
clay. The land drained naturally to the south, and was 
intersected by three low ridges. Most of the land was 
considered to be well adapted to ordinary farm crops, but 
the low lands were too wet for cultivation, and it was 
decided to drain the whole, wet and dry alike. Mains of 
five-inch tile were laid between the ridges, at a depth of 
three and one-half and four feet ; laterals of two, three 
and four inch tile were laid to connect. The next season 
the whole was planted in nursery trees and plants of the 
varieties usually grown, including ornamental stock. As 
we have seen this nursery several times since, there was 
no seeking to find a good spot for this or that stock ; the 
whole surface was alike dry and friable, and remains so, 
perfectly, to-day. The proprietors estimate that the value 
of the land has increased from one hundred to two hun- 
dred per cent, and Mr. Spalding assures us that wet 
seasons have fully proven the importance of drainage, 
since their success in producing stock of a higher character 
is fully apparent. There is no weak, indifferent stock from 
being grown on water-soaked land. 

Mr. Patrick, of DuPage County, Illinois, is known as 
one of the best farmers in his section. He believes in 
drainage. Upon his farm there are many circular sloughs, 
or wet places, which retain water for a long time. He has 
adopted a plan of his own which has worked well with 



DRAINAGE. 



203 



him, and which will work well in all similar cases. The 
cut will illustrate his system of draining. It will also 
serve as a lesson to show the necessity of careful thought 
by the owner of a farm in deciding upon the plan which 
will prove most economical when only partial drainage is 
needed. He has to protect against seipage, and also to 
provide for draining the low places and carry away the 
water. Hence, he lays a line of three-inch tile (two-inch 
tile, as shown in the cut, will do, except in rare cases) 
entirely around the slough, with laterals between. In this 




WATEKING-BOX FKOM UNDERDKAIN. 



case, the only question is, whether less tile will suffice to 
take the seipage according to his plan than to run the 
laterals far enough into the bank to take it in the usual 
way. He says the first crop after the tile was laid fully 
reimbursed the expense of draining, besides leaving him in 
possession of these drained acres, as being the most 
productive on his farm. 



A Right and a Wrong Way for Open Drains, 



In digging drains, there is always a right and a wrong 
way. An open ditch must have slope sufficient to its sides 
so they will not founder down from the washing of water 
or the action of frost. When they are intended simply for 



204 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

carrying away superabundant water from beyond, they may 
be made entirely by the plow and scraper, and this also 
allows vehicles to be easily driven over them, and this surface 
need not be lost. With a little care, they may be seeded 
to grass, and this again will prevent washing. Our plan 
for making these carriers is to plow a strip of land, from 
twelve to sixteen feet wide, according to the depth required, 
turning the furrows to the outside, and so continue until 
nothing further can be gained in moving the earth with the 
plow. Then, with a scraper, carry the earth out, spreading 
it equally on each side over the outer surface. 

Then plow again and again, and scrape until the re- 
quired depth is gained at the center. When considerable 
depth is attained, the chain to the doubletree must be 
lengthened. If the slopes to this carrier are harrowed to a 
good tilth, and a little fine manure spread on the surface, it 
may be seeded with red-top or other suitable grass 

When the landing along which this carrier is to be made 
is sinuous, or not in a straight line, the windings must be 
followed measurably, but every advantage must be taken 
to cut off the turns as much as possible, to bring it 
straighter. Here a little work with a spirit or other level 
may be advantageous, to discover how much may be cut 
off at the turns. These higher points may be deepened 
afterwards with the plow and scraper, to bring the fall as 
equal as possible. If a main under-drain is ever to be laid, 
this preliminary work will not be lost. You will be enabled 
to place the main deeply — an important matter — and the 
original carrier will serve to carry off the water of spring, 
or of heavy flooding rains, quickly and easily. 

When, however, the declivity at certain points is con- 
siderable, and these carriers are deemed necessary, such 
places should contain stones, pebbles or brush, to prevent 
washing. In this way, carriers may sometimes be available 
as a surface out-fall for lateral under-drains ; but, as a rule, 
the covered mains of tile are better and cheaper in the end. 



DRAINAGE. 20 S 



When It Pays to Drain a Farm. 



In draining a farm, the first thing to be done is to care- 
fully go over the land and estimate the amount of drainage 
necessary to bring all the fields to one uniform state, so 
the low or wet lands may be rendered as dry and pervious 
to water as are the naturally drained portions. A rule, 
and a good one, is that any soil in which water will stand 
in a hole two feet deep twenty-four hours after a heavy 
rain, needs draining. While this is true, if the land is 
intended for wheat and all that class of plants requiring 
quick percolation of water, it will not apply in every case. 
Another integer comes in. The value of the land and the 
value of the crops to be raised must be taken into consider- 
ation. In one situation, where tillage land is worth forty, 
fifty or sixty dollars an acre, for the reason that a class of 
crops may be raised that will pay interest on these sums, 
lands too wet for the finer crops will pay for drainage ; but 
in other situations, more remote from market, where the 
best lands are not worth more than five, ten or twenty 
dollars per acre, drainage would not pay. Hence, every 
man must be his own judge as to the advisability of drain- 
ing, after all. Yet this does not falsify the statement, in 
the abstract, that all soils require draining where the 
water does not readily settle away from holes dug to the 
depth as stated. Hence the careful survey of the farm in 
order to estimate rightly the amount of drainage necessary. 

Stock Water from Drains. 



One advantage of under-draining is that the mains will 
often furnish permanent stock-water, where otherwise the 
supply would not be available, except from wells. When 
the mains are laid for considerable distances in long, 
sloughy valleys, or in valleys to connect one system of wet- 



206 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

land drains with another, all that is necessary, wnen a 
drinking-place is wanted, is to excavate about the required 
place, the sides sloping equally to the required depth, and 
put in a water-box. 

Another plan answering the same purpose is to exca- 
vate a passage down to a level with the top of the tile, 
and, say sixteen to twenty or more feet wide. . A trough is 
bedded down in place of the tile, and covered so that only 
a space along the top is left sufficiently wide for stock to 
drink through. The water enters at one end of the trough 
out of the tile, filling it, and passes out at the other end by 
means of a waste pipe connecting with the line of tile 
below. These drinking places may thus be multiplied 
indefinitely, according to the necessities of the stock, and 
the longer the line of tile the larger will be the water 
supply. 

Another plan entirely feasible is to allow the tile to 
empty into a pond, excavated at some suitable place, and 
of greater or lesser extent, according to what is required. 
If in a valley, select a spot where there are good banks on 
each side. But the point where the tile empties into the 
pond at the upper part must never be covered by the water 
of the pond. Hence, the dam at the lower end must be 
far enough away so that whatever the height of water at 
the dam at the lower end, the level will never reach up to 
within two inches of the incoming tile, else there may be 
stoppage from the collection of silt. 

The rormation of Under-drains. 



Tile should always be used if they can be had at not 
too great a cost. Where the cost is excessive various 
other drainage material may be employed, but, in all under- 
draining, the shape of the ditches is important. They 
should be as narrow as will allow a man to work in them, 
since it is a saving of labor in casting out and throwing 



DRAINAGE. 20J 

back the earth. In digging, except in such soils as will 
not hold themselves up, the sides may be carried down 
nearly straight until towards the bottom, which in no case 
should be much, if any, wider than the tile — not more 
than three inches for a tile of two-inch caliber — and still 
less proportionately for larger tile. 

When a subsoil plow is to be used for loosening the 
earth in the drain, it should have but one handle, and be 
small enough so a light mule can work it. By passing 
back and forth several times, the soil may be loosened to a 
depth easily worked with a shovel. A small mule will 
work in a space of sixteen inches wide, with a little prac- 
tice, and when this plan is adopted a passage must be left 
at suitable intervals, so the animal can reach the surface to 
turn around. This may be governed by the length that 
can be worked in a day, the mule plowing one portion 
while the hands are shoveling out another. 

When the work is to be done entirely by hand, or, at 
least, except the first eighteen inches, the cut here given 
will show the least width proportionately that may be used ; 
but this only by the most expert drainers, with narrow 
tools for bottoming. However wide the top may be started, 
and carried down, the last spit, at the bottom, must con- 
form to the width of the drain-tile or other drainage 
material to be used. 



Various Means of Drainage- 



Nothing but tile should be used, where they may be 
had, unless in the case where stone lies on the surface of 
the soil, and which must be gotten rid of. But it may 
happen that drainage may be necessary where tile must be 
carried long distances, and thus cost too much. Again, in 
the draining of orchards and woodlands the tile are apt to 
become filled with the roots of the trees. Thus, stone. 



2o8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

poles, slabs, and in very tough soils shouldered earth- 
drains may be used. Hence we give representations of 
several forms, to meet every case. 

For orchard drainage and woodland drainage where 
stone is plenty, the ditch may be filled with stone to within 
twenty inches of the surface, if necessary. In woodland, 
nearly to the surface. Where brush is plenty, it may be 
tied in small bundles and laid regularly in the drains, the 
larger ends pointing down, to form a waterway. That is, 
the inclination of each succeeding series of bundles should 
be laid one on another, that the larger ends will point 
downward to the mouth of the drain, each successive layer 
being covered by the succeeding one. Here again the 
draining may be filled to within twenty inches of the top, 
with brush, well tramped down, which the intelligence of 
the operator should soon enable him to accomplish deftly. 



Lands Requiring Drainage. 



The expense of thoroughly draining land three feet 
deep will be from sixty to one hundred dollars per acre, 
varying according to cost of labor, tile and the obstacles 
to be encountered in prosecuting the work. Since, then, 
this represents a permanent work, it is capital employed. 
Thus, any person may figure what lands will or will not 
pay for drainage, according to the interest required on the 
investment. If the increased crops will pay the interest on 
the outlay, draining will pay. With corn at forty cents per 
bushel, fifteen additional bushels per acre in yield will pay 
the interest on one hundred dollars. If wheat is worth one 
dollar per bushel, an additional yield of six bushels per 
annum will pay the interest. There is no wet farm where 
it will not pay more than this. If but a small portion of 
the whole land requires drainage, the economy of draining 
will become more and more apparent ; for, while a farmer 



DRAINAGE. 209 

might not be able to drain an entire farm, any farmer can, 
from year to year, drain field after field, until soon the 
drainage will render the wet portions of the soil as good, 
or better, than the naturally dry portions. 
Lands requiring draining: 

1 . On general principles, as heretofore stated, any land 
should be drained where the water stands in holes two feet 
deep twenty-four hours after a soaking rain. 

2. Any soil that in winter or spring becomes water- 
soaked, so that plowing may not be carried forward twenty- 
four hours after a heavy rain, or where the soil remains wet 
during forty-eight hours of dry weather, after the frost. has 
completely left the ground. • 

3. Any meadow or pasture that becomes packed from 
the treading of stock forty-eight hours after a heavy rain, 
orr that remains soft after the frost is out of the land ; for it 
must be remembered that none of the superior grasses 
flourish on wet soil. Moist soils they like, and a drained 
soil is always moist. Again, grasses do not root below the 
standing water line ; they do, however, root deeply where 
the land is either naturally or artificially drained. Hence, 
draining will allow this deep rooting. The low-land vege- 
tation will disappear, and the superior grasses will take 
their place. 

4. Drainage prevents surface washing. Water falling on 
a soil, if it be sufficiently porous, sinks directly down until 
it finds the point of continual saturation, or of absorption 
by the soil. However steep the hillside, this is constant, 
so long as the rainfall is not greater than the power of 
absorption. For the reason that drainage renders the soil 
friable and porous, it absorbs the water, and hence, one 
reason why in time of drouth it retains moisture. Every 
drop of rain or dew assists the deep reservoir of friable 
earth beneath, and the hydroscopic water of the atmos- 
phere is constantly being separated in the minute cavities 
of the soil. 



2IO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

5. Drainage assists all low places or swamps ; in fact, 
all soils where the plants named in the next article flourish. 

How to Know Lands Requiring Drainage. 



M. Barrel, author of a great French work on drainage, 
has put this so tersely and graphically that we give a trans- 
lation. The author says : " Whenever, after a rain, water 
remains in the furrows; wherever stiff" and plastic earth 
adheres to the shoes ; wherever the foot of man or horse 
makes cavities that retain water like so many little cisterns; 
wherever«cattle are unable to penetrate without sinking into 
a kind of mud ; wherever the rays of the sun form on the 
earth a hard crust, slightly cracked, and compressing the 
roots of plants as in a vice ; wherever, three or four days 
after a rain, slight depressions in the ground show more 
moisture than other parts ; wherever a stick, forced into 
the ground eighteen inches deep, forms a well-like hole 
having standing water at the bottom; Avherever tradition 
consecrates, as advantageous, the cultivation of lands by 
means of convex, high, large ridges." In all these the 
author affirms that drainage will be advantageous. How 
many farms are there where, on large portions, cultivation 
cannot be had at all, and yet the owner, perhaps, might 
scout at the idea of drainage ; in Hict, Avould insist that it 
would ruin his land ? It would be, in fact, the only salva- 
tion of the farm gradually being ruined by having to be 
plowed when out of condition. 

TWELVE PROPOSITIONS. 

The late John H. Klippert, one who united practical 
knowledge to an active, observing mind, in a chapter on 
soils and their properties, discusses the advantages of 
under-draining, so far as theory (not hypothesis) in its 
proper sense is susceptible of demonstration, and asserts 
the following twelve propositions : 



DRAINAGE. 211 

1. That drainage removes stagnant waters from the 
surface. 

2. It removes surplus water from under the surface. 

3. It lengthens the seasons. 

4. It deepens the soil. 

5. It warms the soil. 

6. It equalizes the temperature of the soil during the 
season of growth. 

7. It carries down soluble substances to the roots of 
plants. 

8. It prevents "heaving out" or "freezing out." 

9. It prevents injury from drought. 

10. It improves the quality and quantity of the crop. 

11. It increases the effects of manures. 

12. It prevents rust in wheat and rot in potatoes. 

A GOOD TEST. 

While this is all correct as a rule, as applying to soil, it 
is none the less true that it applies only to soils requiring 
drainage, and a good and safe rule as to whether a soil 
really does require drainage, is, that it does not come into 
condition for working soon after heavy rains. If a soil does 
not free itself perfectly from the plow-share, and fall friably 
therefrom in plowing within forty-eight hours after a satur- 
ating rain, it requires draining to reach the most econom- 
ical results in tillage. The only question then to be decided 
is, whether the crops to be cultivated will pay the interest 
on the sum invested. There is really but little land in the 
West, comparatively speaking, but would be better for 
draining. 

Importance of Drainage to Stockmen. 



Those interested in breeding and rearing stock might, 
from a superficial view of the subject, suppose that to 
them the drainage of the soil was of little importance. 
Not so. It is of fully as much importance to this class as 



212 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

to any other class of farmers. The mere lengthening of 
the season for a week or ten days in the spring, and the 
same length of time in the fall, is a most important matter, 
since it shortens the winter, and, consequently, the fodder- 
ing of stock for the same length of time. The more 
important question, however, lies here ; that while wet soils, 
and even the worst marshes, will bear plants, and even 
grass, yet it is not such as will be eaten by stock, unless 
they are starving. Again, upon wet land, when the supe- 
rior plants, as bluegrass, orchard grass, red clover, etc.,, 
will exist only on the higher portions, and then perhaps 
not in the highest perfection, or where they may be found 
growing generally over the field but sparsely, the loss to 
the value of the pasture is immense. 




=^^RURAL ARGHITEGTURE,^^ 



FPLsfl^S JiYlB OrReG¥I0^S F.8RG0^F]5FRY F20USES 



Building According to Means. 

HOWEVER small and rude the beginning of a country 
home may be, the house and barn should be so planned 
that additions may be advantageously made, or else they 
must be so placed as not to interfere with the erection of 
better structures when increasing wealth shall allow. Our 
aim is to givedirectionsfor the erection of simple buildings, 
of a cost not exceeding $1,000, that any intelligent person 




ASHLAND, THE HOME OF HUNKY CLAV. 



can understand, and any carpenter build, without the aid of 
an architect. For a house costing over the sum named 
the fees of an architect will be money well spent, and in 
the end an economy, since he should be able to save the 
builder more than he will ask for the working plan. 

We will, however, present a few designs for more elab- 
orate dwellings, and would give the following as general 



2l6 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



directions : Farm-houses should always be of solid and 
substantial appearance, avoiding florid and useless orna- 
ment. Land being cheaper than in towns, it is well to use 
it freely ; do not build tall and narrow structures, which are 
always unsightly, and give unnecessary stairs to climb. 
The farm-house should be roomy, with high ceilings, solid 
and cheerful. When the means of the owner will allow, 
let it be imposing. 




THE OLD HOUSE KEMODELED. 



When to Build. 



We repeat, never undertake a building until you have 
more than enough money to finish and to furnish it. It is 
far better to occupy the old house a year or two longer, or 
to add a cheap shed or two, for the time being, than to 
build a new house or elaborate barn on borrowed money. 
It may be necessary to borrow for the building of the first 
house ; never for the second, unless storm or fire has 
destroyed your home. 

When to build, then, is when you have the money to 



PLANS AND DIRECTIONS FOR COUNTRY HOUSES. 



217 



do SO, or can get it by the sale of surplus crops or stock. 
If you have more land than you can work to advantage, it 
may be wise policy to sell a part, to make your home com- 
fortable. 



The Provident Farmer's Marriage Settlements. 



The man who adds farm to farm, and lives in a hovel, 
is neither a good citizen, a good father nor a good farmer. 
Let us speak unto you a parable: A certain man had a 




FARM-HOUSE BUILT FROM INCREASING PROFITS. 



farm, which he thought he worked well. So thought his 
neighbors. To him were born three children. When the 
first of these married, one-quarter of the farm went as a 
marriage portion. By industry, the father raised as much 
on the three-quarters as he previously had on the whole, 
and was well satisfied. 

Another child married and received a like portion to the 
first. Improved implements of cultivation, he found, to 
his surprise, still enabled him to live as well as ever. 



2l8 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



The last child, a daughter, was to be married. " Ah, 
wife," said the father, "the child must have the same por- 

~ tion as the others. How 

shall we, in our declining 
age, live on the produce of 
the quarter of the farm? " 

"We are but two," re- 
plied the wife, " and shall 
want but little. The new im- 
plements, the enriching of 
the soil, and the draining, 
gave us as much from the 
half as we once had from the 
whole. Increase the dressing, drain more thoroughly, 
plow and subsoil still deeper, cultivate yet more faithfully, 
exchange the poorest of the stock for pure breeds, and 
see what that will give." 

This was done, and the third year thereafter surprised 
the farmer with more money as the result of his labor than 
he had ever received from the whole of the original acres 
of the farm. The application will serve him who intends 
to build a new house, and has not money enough, but does 
possess salable surplus land. A half-tilled farm and fine 
buildings do not "'o well totrether. 

o o o 




A PIONEER S COTTAGE 



How to Build. 



Whatever the structure, careful calculation will show 
its cost in the amount of excavation, stone, brick, cement, 
sand, lime, timber, scantling, joists, lumber, shingles, nails, 
sash, glass and labor. The farmer, perhaps, cannot calcu- 
late all these ; the architect can, and any master carpenter 
should be able to do it, if the size of the structure, and the 
money to be expended are stated. Whatever you build, 
build will ; that is, substantially and of good material. 



PLANS AND DIRECTIONS FOR COUNTRY HOUSES. 



219 



Sound knotty lumber is as good as clear, where it is 
covered up. Unsound, shaky lumber should be used 
nowhere. 

Special care must be taken that the bricks are firm and 
well burned. If the clay is of poor quality, or not well burned, 
the bricks soon crumble and shell. They are not only 
unsightly, but are costly in the end, and often dangerous. 
The cost of walls too thin for their purpose is always 
money wasted. As in draining, the value of the whole 







HILLSIDE COTTAGE. 



work is estimated by the quality of the tile, and the 
poorest tile laid ; so in brick or stone work, the value of 
the wall is in the quality of the material, the integrity of 
the mortar, and the honesty of the work. 

There is a right and a wrong way to lay stone walls. 
Hence, it is not economy to employ a contractor simply 
because he is cheap. His work may be as bad as his price 
is low. Any man, by intelligent observation and study of 
the plans and specifications furnished, may be able to judge 
how the work is going on. 

How to build, then, may be summoned up thus : Build 
according to your means. Whatever the structure, use 



220 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

good material ; it is cheapest in the end. Have the work 
carefully planned, and then see the whole carried out 
properly. 

What to Build 



Whatever you build make it comfortable. Remember 
that the house is woman's kingdom. Therefore, consult 
her. You sleep and eat there ; she lives her life almost 
wholly within doors. None understand the arrangement of 
the rooms, pantries, closets, dressers and drawers so well 
as she. 

Every farm-house should have a dairy-room, distinct 
and by itself; a bath-room, for cleanliness is health as well 
as comfort. When water cannot be brought direct from 
the wind-mill tank, it is easily supplied by a small force- 
pump and pipe leading to the cistern. Remember the 
woman who is obliged to cleanse the hard water of the 
well ; and save her useless labor by providing the neces- 
sary cistern for soft water. If nothing better can be had, 
two or three oil hogsheads, first thoroughly cleansed, may 
suffice, but never forget the permanent cistern when build- 
ing the new house. 

Taste and Judgment in the Details. 



It is folly to build a house larger than you require, or 
to have the rooms unduly large, unless your means will 
permit the hiring of necessary servants to keep all in order. 
Many a woman on whom the unaided work has fallen has 
been made prematurely old through such slavery, and often 
is herself to blame. Do not hesitate to spend money in 
making both the outside and the inside of your house 
pleasant to the eye. 

Do the doors touch on top or bottom after the new 
house has been built and furnished ? Do the walls crack .'' 



PLANS AND DIRECTIONS FOR COUNTRY HOUSES. 221 

In either case you have been neglectful or have been 
deceived; the foundations are unsound. Does the wood- 
work shrink? You have used green lumber instead of 
dry. Do the windows rattle or let in drafts of air? It is 
from the same cause. Does the water enter to discolor 
walls and ceiling? The siding or the roofing is to blame. 
If you have a carefully written contract, and the builder 
is responsible, you can, perhaps, recover after a tedious 
lawsuit. It is better not only to have a carefully written 
contract, but also to watch how the details are carried out. 
If you have deliberately cheated yourself in refusing to pay 
for honest material, you are not to be pitied. The pity 
should all be given to the wife and children of the family, 
who really are the chief sufferers. 



Where to Build. 



So build as most economically to serve the various uses 
of the farm, and at the same time obtain, if possible, a view 
of the surrounding country. The farmer has the whole 
farm from which to select a building site. If he dumps his 
house and other buildings down next the road, only because 
it is a road, he shows bad judgment. If he builds upon a 
pinnacle simply because it is high, or in a hollow alone, 
because the wind cannot reach him there, he makes a great 
mistake. One should take into account, in carefully esti- 
mating the value of a building site, central situation on the 
farm, freedom from exposure to the full effects of the wind, 
air and elevation in relation to healthfulness, and the 
advantages to be obtained from perfect drainage; the 
adaptability of the site to the proposed farm buildings, and 
the economy of the water supply. All these must be duly 
weighed, and they are often difficult of solution. If the 
doubt is of drainage or of roads, the surveyor should be 
able to advise ; if in relation to the house, the architect 



222 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



should be consulted. Take counsel, also, of a landscape 
gardener — we mean a real landscape gardener, one who 
can look far beyond the simple details of planting and 
decoration, by taking the natural beauties into account, and 
the proper means for heightening them. 



The Water Supply. 

If a stream runs near the site of your house, have the 
necessary levels taken to find if water can be, by gravity, 
conducted in pipes to the homestead. If so, the advantage 




ENGLISH OUTHIC COTTAGE. 



will be great. Besides the comfort, there will be water for 
the stock, and beauty be obtained in the future, by a pond 
and fountain. If this natural supply cannot be obtained, 
you must depend upon a wind-mill and wells for stock 
water, which same mill may be so arranged as to force soft 
water to the house from an ample cistern at the barn. This 
cistern should be in two parts, with a filter between. It is 
only a question of the first cost, and the necessary pipes 
and faucets. The reservoir-cistern may be in the barn or 



PLANS AND DIRECTIONS FOR COUNTRY HOUSES. 



223 



Other building that will furnish the necessary head. Water 
will rise, in a pipe, to the same height as the " head, " as the 
elevation of the source of supply is called, but many per- 
sons suppose that it may be thrown, in an unconfined 
stream, to the same height. This is a great mistake, for 
the jet of a fountain never springs as high into the air as 
the reservoir which supplies it with water. 

House Drainage. 



Drainage is most important. It must be perfect. The 
pipes and mains conducting the house drainage should not 




FAICM UK SUm/RIlAN COTTAGE. 



only be of ample size to prevent choking, but have the best 
possible traps to prevent foul gases from rising back into 
the building. These pipes must be so arranged that they 
can be " flushed out " with water when necessary. The 
cellar drains, when these are necessary, and the out-going 
main may be of tile, providing they do not connect with the 
other house drainage ; if they do, a strong trap must be 
used where the drain-water of the cellar empties into the 



224 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

house main. All other drains should be water-tight at the 
joints, and as a further precaution, a soil-pipe, perfectly 
tight, should lead from the bottom to at least four feet above 
the highest portion of. the roof. This pipe connects at or 
near the bottom with the pipe service of the house. It is 
indispensable to carry off the effluvia which always collects 
in confined places. 

Ventilation. 



No less important is ventilation. It is true, in the coun- 
try, where the air is pure, ventilation is not so serious a 
matter as in the city. Windows may be raised and doors 
left open in summer ; but this is, at no time, the best 
way for the general ventilation of buildings, and in winter 
is not to be thought of. In the winter proper, ventilation 
is difficult. An architect who does not fully understand 
this question and the best means to be employed, has not 
wholly learned his business. Do not hamper him here with 
objections as to cost. However elaborate and expensive 
the structure, money stinted in ventilation and drainage 
always proves a costly error. A leak, however slight, in 
the soil-pipe will, perhaps, let out death to the family. If 
the earth within, or near, the foundations of the house 
becomes saturated with the drainage, the germs of low 
malarial fevers, and all that class of diseases, are scattered 
through the house. Do not believe, because your nostrils 
are not offended, that there is no danger. The most 
deadly miasma often gives no indication to the sense of 
smell. So with ventilation. There should be some system 
by which the air vitiated by breathing, and other emanations 
of the body, may be freely carried off. Do not employ an 
ignorant man, who professes to be an architect, because he 
works cheaper than a master of his profession. 



Eymoi^e MpiERipii af^b ¥iE ByriiBeR'spRsp. 



Building Material. 



/TTV MAN who is going to build must consult, not only 
<*^^ cost of materials and labor, but be governed by many 
circumstances. Good burned brick are the most lasting 
of all things used, and where abundant, are often the 
cheapest in the end. In some regions of the far West, 
"adobes," or unburned brick, are used, and if the roof 
projects sufficiently to prevent rain reaching the walls, and 
if between the ground and the adobe walls, stones, hard- 
burned bricks, or even planks saturated with bitumen, tar or 
rosin are laid, these sun-dried bricks last well. As in many 
places they are the only building material easily obtainable, 
we give directions for making them. Adobes, if protected 
as we have indicated, answer for any required structures, 
in regions where fuel for burning brick is difficult to obtain, 
and they are especially useful for temporary buildino-s, to 
be used until better material can be had. The adobe may 
be made from clay containing limestone or other small 
gravel, which would render it unfit for burninrr, but the 
more tenacious the clay, the better will be the wall. In 
making any brick, it is better that the clay, when dug from 
the bed, be well " weathered," to break down and disinte- 
grate it before using, but less so for the adobe brick than 
that clay which is to be burned. 

How to Make Unburned Brick. 



The clay is put into a pit and brought to the proper 
consistency for treading. Two bundles of straw cut into 
six-inch lengths, are added for each one hundred brick. 



226 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



The mass is then thoroughly trodden by cattle, after which 
it is formed in molds of plank, whose bottoms are not air- 
tight. These molds are twelve inches long, six wide and 
four deep, inside measure. They must be well sanded as 
emptied before being again filled, which filling is prepared 
by hand, and the surplus clay struck off by an iron 
"straTght-edge." When taken from the molds the adobes 
are set upon edge on the drying ground, and the second 
day turned over. In three days they should be dry enough 




A PRETTY Kt'KAL F1"Ml-_ (ScL' [Kl-^ 



to pile under cover, and are then left for two weeks or 
more to "cure." 

Building the Wall. — The walls of the building are 
laid in alternate courses of "headers" and "stretchers." 
"Headers" being brick laid endwise to the weather. 
"Stretchers" are brick laid with the side to the weather, 
that is, to the outside of the wall. The brick, being one 
foot long, determine the thickness of the wall, and the first 
course should run through. In carrying up the wall, joints 
must be broken, not only as regards layers of "stretchers," 
but with the "headers" also. 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 22/ 

A Pretty Rural Home. 



This house is adapted to a family of moderate means, 
doing' business in a city and living in the country, or for a 
well-to-do business man or retired farmer, with small family, 
in a suburban town. 

Specifications of Farm and Other Buildings. 



It will not be necessary to enter into any detailed state- 
ment as to the construction of buildings, farther than what 
has been made heretofore. The illustrations and defini- 
tions, except so far as may be necessary to show how 
changes might be made for the better, will be all that will 
be necessary. In the illustrations we begin with the sim- 
pler and proceed to the more elaborate, for the reason that 
the majority want simple structures, and here will be the 
proper place to give the general specifications : First, for 
an ordinary modern building ; and, second, for those for a 
first-class building of brick with stone foundation. Many 
items specified are not needed on the farm, but are neces- 
sary in suburban and other houses. In these we have fol- 
lowed, in a general way, the comprehensive and elaborate 
directions as given in a valuable, complete and costly prac- 
tical architectural work, known as " Palliser's American 
Country Homes." 

t 
Outline of Specifications for House of Wood, with Stone 
or Brick Foundations. 



Dimensions. — Drawings and details must be accurately 
followed according to the scale given, and preference must 
always be given to the scale rather than to the dimensions. 
The building must be in exact proportion and in size as 
shown on the architect's plans, and as figured in the draw- 
ings — as, for instance, height of cellar, first floor, kitchen. 



228 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



second floor over main part of house, height of second floor 
over kitchen, third floor, etc., always in the clear, and built 
in exact accordance with the plans and specifications. 

Note. — In the specifications, in some instances, we shall 
give size, quality and dimensions as being appropriate for 
buildings of two stories. Where blanks are left they are 
to be filled with figures and names as required. The whole 
being intended for what is known as a balloon-frame, to be 
still further treated of hereafter. 




SUBURBAN OR FARM COTTAtiH. 



Suburban or Farm Cottage. 



This is a tasteful, economical and cozy cottage, adapted, 
in point of architecture, to a rolling or hill country. The 
hall is to be used as a sitting-room or parlor, and the front 
bedroom may be converted into a library. The kitchen and 
living room is 18x12, and the rear building combines a 
wood-house, laundry and water-closet. The rooms are 
nine feet high in the clear, and whether built of wood, 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 229 

brick or stone, the house is handsome. The upper story 
has two .feet of perpendicular wall, which, with the sharp 
roof, gives plenty of air, and may contain two large sleep- 
ing-rooms of unequal size, .each lighted by a handsome 
side window, and one of them by a dormer. 

Masonry and Mason's Work. 



Excavating. — Do all necessary excavating required for 
cellar, area and foundations until firm and solid ground is 
reached, and always be entirely certain to go deep enough 
to be beyond the reach of frost. 

Stone Work. — Build the foundation walls sixteen 
inches thick, of good, flat stone, of firm bed, well bonded 
through the wall, laid up in clean, sharp sand, lime and 
cement. Mortar made in the proportion of one part of 
cement to two of lime. Lay by, and full to, a line on the 
inner face, the joints of which must be flushed and pointed 
at completion. Put like foundation under ail piers, chim- 
neys and exterior steps. 

Drains. — First quality cement drain-pipe, as per plan, 
are to be connected, if in a town, with the sewer ; or in the 
country, a drain built for the purpose, and these pipes must 
be properly graded and trapped and the joints cemented 
tight. 

Underpinning. — From the top of the stone wall, at 
grade level, extend up two feet in height with eight-inch 
wall of best hard-burned brick, and clean, sharp sand and 
lime mortar; face walls with selected brick of even color, 
laid in red mortar, close joints, jointed, properly cleaned 
down at completion, and finished with black joints, window- 
sills of (state the kind of stone). 

Piers. — Build piers in cellar, as shown in the plan, of 
best hard-burned brick, laid in clean, sharp sand and lime 
mortar, and cap with flat stone the size of piers. 



230 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Chimneys. — Build chimneys as shown, plastered on 
inside and out, furnished with proper stove collars, and 
with ventilating covers where required; turn arch to fire- 
place, and turn trimmer arch under hearth ; hearth to be 
(state the material of hearth) bedded in cement. Top out 
the chimneys above the roof, as shown, with selected brick 
in like manner to underpinning. 




A CONVENIENT COTTAGE. (See page 23I.) 



Lathing. — All stud partitions, ceilings and work that is 
furred off, on first and second floors, to be lathed with 
(state kind of lathing), and joints to be broken (state how 
the joints are to be broken, as, for instance, every tenth 

lath). 

Plastering. — All walls, partitions and ceilings, through- 
out first and second floors, to be plastered, one coat of 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 23I 

brown, well-haired mortar, and finish. State whether 
white, hard, or other finish is required. All walls to be 
finished straight and plumb. All angles to be maintained 
sharp and regular in form, and the plastering in all cases 
to extend to the floor, ceiled surface, or base board, as the 
case may be. 

A Convenient Cottage. 



This house combines convenience with utility and 
economy of space. It may be cheaply built, for the reason 
that there is no costly ornamentation. This, however, may 
be added outside and in, for it is the finish of the average 
house that costs money. It will be seen that while the 
halls are large enough to be convenient, all that can be 
spared from them has been added to make the rooms more 
spacious. The opening, usually filled with folding doors, 
is eight feet square, making the parlor and dining-room a 
large salon, thus greatly adding to the hospitable look of 
the house, and giving large space. The stairs, enclosed 
between two walls, are more cheaply built. Each room has 
a closet, and with one exception, has straight edges. The 
house is ten feet between joists on the first story and nine 
feet above ; the plan also provides for a cellar and stone 
cistern. 



Carpentry and Carpenter Work. 



Timber. — All timber must be put together in the most 
substantial and workmanlike manner known to the trade. 
State of what kind of wood all timber is to be, when not 
otherwise specified. This is important, since in every 
locality there is much inferior material. 

Framing. — State the kind of framinfr. If a hollow 
frame, as follows : The frame to be what is known as a 



232 



THE PRACTICAL HUME FARMER. 



hollow frame, well nailed together; -second floor girts to be 
notched into and well spiked to studs. Do all necessary 
framing around stair-ways and chimneys, properly mortised 
and tenoned together. 

Frame Timber. — The size must be carefully stated, and 
also the kind of material. The following may represent 
that for an ordinary sized two-story house : Girders, 4x6 
inches; sills, TfXj inches; posts, 4x5 inches; girts, 1X^x4 




SUBURBAN CAKRIAGF-Hmf^E ANH STABLE. 



inches ; plates, 2x4 inches, doubled and well spiked into 
ends of studding; first-floor timbers, 2x8 inches; second- 
floor timbers, 2x6 inches, all to be six inches apart, 
from center to center of timbers ; header and trimmer 
beams, 3 inches thick; roof-rafters, 2x5 inches, by 24 inches 
to centers, apart; door and window studs, 3x4 inches; 
intermediate studding, 2x4 inches, and 16 inches each to 
centers; studdings in partitions, 2x3 inches, and 16 inches 
each from center to centers ; veranda sills and cross sills, 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 233 

^x6 inches ; floor timbers, 2x6, and 20 inches from centers ; 
plates, 4x5 inches. 

Bridging. — Bridge floor timbers with 1x2 inch cross- 
bridging, properly cut in between timbers, and nailed at 
each end with two ten-penny nails. 

Furring. — Fur overhead on rafters for rooms on second 
floor, and also any other furring required. 

Sheathing. — Cover all sides of the frame with toneued 
and grooved boards, not to exceed six inches in width, and 
nail through each edge to every stud with ten-penny nails. 

Lumber. — All lumber must be of white pine (unless 
otherwise specified), free from knots, shakes and other im- 
perfections impairing its strength and durability. Water- 
table seven-eighths of an inch thick, furred off one inch 
and capped with a leveled and rabbeted cap for clapboards 
to lap. The corner boards, casings and bands to be one 
and one-quarter by six inches, bands to be rabbeted top 
and bottom for clapboards and beveled on top. 

Clapboarding. — All sides to be covered with clear pine 
clapboardsfour and one-half inches wide, nailed with eight- 
penny box nails, and to have not less than one and one- 
quarter inch lap, and underlaid with water-proof sheathing 
felt, which also place under casings, water-table, etc., so as 
to lap and make a tight job. 

Cornices. — These are to be formed on three by five- 
inch rafter feet, spiked on to a rafter at plate ; gutter formed 
on same and lined with tin, so as to shed water to points 
as are indicated in plan. Plancier to be formed by layin<y 
narrow pine matched boards, face down on rafter feet, large 
boards two inches thick and as shown, and all as in the 
detail drawing. 

Window- Frames. — These are to be made as shown in 
the drawings. Cellar-frames of two-inch plank rabbeted 
for sash; sash hinged (or not, as the case may be), and to 
have suitable fastenings to hold open or shut; all other 



234 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



sashes to be double-hung with best sash-cords and cast- 
iron weights, and to be glazed with best sheet glass (or 
other, as the case may be) ; also, specifying the number of 
sash and size of lights. Also, state thickness of sash. All 
sash to be made of best clear, thoroughly-seasoned pine. 
Window sills to be two inches thick. (For ordinary win- 
dows one and three-eighths inch is the usual thickness.) 

Bunds. — State whether blinds are to be outside or 
inside, and of how many folds. Outside blinds should 
never be used where they can be avoided. All wood work 
should be primed with best white lead and linseed oil, as 
soon as exposed to the weather. 




NElGHBORHOni) TRIMARV SCHOOL-HOUSE. 



Door-Frames. — Outside door-frames of plank, rab- 
beted, and furnished \yith 2-inch oak, or other hard-wood 
sills. 

Porches. — These vary much in character. They should 
be constructed in accordance with the detail drawings, 
including columns, rails, newels, panels, etc.; steps should 
be I }4 inch thick, with J'^-'mch. risers, to have cove under 
nosings; floors laid with i>^x4 inch flooring, blind-nailed to 
beams; the joints served with white lead; ceiling to be 
ceiled with narrow-beaded battens of even width and 
molded in angles. 

Roofs. — Cover all roofs with best sawea pine shingles, 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 235 

laid preferably on roofing boards, solidly nailed to the 
rafters. If laid on strips, these may be 1x2 inches, nailed 
to the rafters with ten-penny nails. The shingles to be laid 
to break joints, nailed with white-metal nails, two to each 
shingle, the nails to be well covered by the succeeding lap, 
to make a perfectly weather-tight roof It pays to paint 
shingles with mineral paint before laying. 

Floors. — Kitchen floors are better laid with three or 
four-inch wide ash strips seven-eighths inch thick. Sound 
yellow and Georgia pine are next best. The principal floor 
of the house should be laid with best pine flooring, 1x6 
inches. The second floors of seven-eighths inch pine, 6 
inches wide. All floors to have joints broken, to be well 
driven home, and securely blind-nailed. Kitchen and other 
floors requiring mopping and scrubbing, are better if the 
flooring is paved with white lead, to make it water-tight. 

Partitions. — All partitions should foot on girders, and 
have ;ix;^ inch plates to carry second floor; all angles formed 
solid, and all partitions bridged at least once in their height; 
The grojimis to screed plaster to should be seven-eighths 
inch thick, and left on. 

Wainscoting. — Wainscot walls for kitchen, when used, 
may be three feet high, if with beaded battens ; if not, of 
J^-inch flooring, well driven home, and blind-nailed. They 
should be furnished with beveled and molded cap. 

Casings. — These must be described in detail; the fol- 
lowing will serve as an example: Casings in front hall and 
living-rooms — tobecut and stop-chamfered — i 34^x6 inches ; 
all doors and windows elsewhere to be cased before plas- 
tering with %-inch casings, and finished with a y%x\}^ inch 
band mold. Put down 7-inch beveled base in front hall 
and bed-rooms after plastering; door jambs to be ^ inch 
thick, rabbeted for doors and headed on edges ; windows to 
be finished with neat stool and apron finish. 

Doors. — State whether the doors, and which of them, 



236 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



are to be panel, sliding and sash doors. Sash doors are 
used for entresol, and sometimes for outside doors. Six- 
panel, ogee, solid molded doors are usual for inside single 
doors. Saddles of doors should be, preferably, of hard 
pine. 

Stairs. — Cellar stairs should be of plank, without 
risers; second-floor stairs, 1^4; -inch tread, ^-inch risers, 
properly put together and supported. 

Sinks. — Ceil up under sink with narrow beaded work 
to match wainscoting; hang doors 
for closets underneath ; place ap- 





SUMMER-HOUSE OF BAKK. 



St^UARE SUMMER-HOUSE. 



propriate hooks; ceil up splash-board, 16 inches high, and 
place drip-board. 

Pantries and Closets. — Pantries should have a coun- 
ter shelf and at least four shelves above, with appropriate 
pot hooks beneath counter shelf. China closets with coun- 
ter shelf, drawers underneath, and appropriate shelves 
above. Wardrobe closets, to be fitted up with shelves, 
double wardrobe hooks, on molded strips. 

Door Furniture, etc. — The door furniture must cor- 
respond to the specifications and drawings. Locks : mor- 
tise locks, brass fronts and keys, with stop-locks and shove- 
bolts for all outside doors. The stops should be of hard 
wood with rubber tips ; hinges, of loose joint, but of size 
and strength appropriate to the doors. 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER S ART. 237 

Mantels. — These may be of marble, slate, pottery, or 
of hard wood, according to the nature of the building. 

Cellar. — The partitions may be of brick or of wood 
(brick is best), divided into rooms, with suitable doors, and 
furnished with shelves, bins and other fixtures, according to 
the necessities of the case. 

Painter's Work. 

All wood-work, outside and inside, should receive two 
coats of the best white lead and raw linseed oil. Accept 
nothing adulterated. Paint that remains sticky, and is 
affected by atmospheric changes, is a nuisance. Clap- 
boards should be painted in some light neutral colors, with 
darker trimminors. Grain the wood-work in kitchen in oak 
or maple, inside blinds, doors, etc., preferably in imitation 
of some light-colored handsome wood ; bed-rooms are best 
painted in one color ; chamfers and cut work should be 
picked out in appropriate colors. Paint the roof a dark- 
slate color; tin work, Indian red or other rather dark 
color. The whole to be in accordance with the design. 



*& 



Tinner's and Plumber's Work. 



Tinning. — All tinner's work should be of the best ma- 
terial, soldered in rosin ; gutters lined with tin, tin leadei*s 
to convey water from gutters to grade level, to be firmly 
secured to the building, and to be graded in size to corre- 
spond to the amount of water to be carried. 

Sinks. — These should be of cast-iron, to be supplied 
from five-eighths inch tin-lined lead pipe, with five-eighths 
inch brass cocks; waste-pipes two inch, of cast or wrought 
iron, gas-tight, properly calked at joints if of cast-iron ; if 
of wrought iron, the pipes must be screwed tight, the joints 
first payed with red lead, trapped and closely connected 

• 



i38 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



with the drain ; the waste-pipe to extend through the 
buildino- and above the roof for vent. All water-closet (if 
any) and other drain fixtures to be according- to the best 
scientific skill. 

In conclusion, we repeat, that all work of whatever kind 
must be in accordance with the specifications and design, in 




SCHOOL AND MEETING HOUSE COMBINED. 



all the departments, Hence the importance of a specific 
contract and an honest architect. 



School-house and Church Architecture. 



On the principle that every building should be adapted 
to the use for which it is intended, there would seem to be 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 239 

room for improvement in our public buildings in all our 
smaller cities and villages. The great mistake is in the 
failure to provide ventilation, correct acoustic facilities, per- 
fect heating arrangements, comfortable seats, and ready 
egress in case of panic from fire or other accidental causes. 
In country districts the school-house is always the place of 
holding caucuses, society meetings, clubs, singing societies, 
public amusements, and often it is used on Sundays as a 
church. Hence it should be the best building in the neigh- 
borhood ; not only built in the best manner, but pleasant in 
its surroundings. The lot should not be less than a full 
acre in extent, thoroughly and substantially fenced, care- 
fully planted with trees and shrubbery, and, except the 
play-ground, laid out with walks and flower-beds and 
ornamented with flowers. The situation should be com- 
manding, on high or well-drained land, near a public high- 
way, and as near the center of the district as possible. 
Then, if the teacher have taste and practicality, and the 
trustees business discretion and firmness, the place will 
become one of the most attractive in the neiehborhood, 
and all will work together in keeping it so. 

. Rustic Seats and Summer - Houses. 

The garden and lawn are incomplete, if not supplied 
with some kind of seat, and when these have to be bought 
there is such an infinity of designs to select from that all 
may be satisfied according to the contents of the purse. 
The charm, however, of all these ornamentations, whether 
of shade or comfort, is their rustic character. Here is one 
rustic enough, and at the same time, comfortably arranged 
for a tete-a-tete. 

One of the prettiest effects we have ever seen was an 
elegant summer-house of woven wire, appropriately situated 
on a fine lawn, shaded here and there with large trees, and 
planted with shrubbery, a cut of which we give. 



240 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



What do you suppose, dear reader, was contained with- 
in this summer-house? As surprising and as pleasant a 
thing as a school-yard, with trees, walks, flowers and a 
rustic summer-house. It was neither more or less than the 
veritable stump we have illustrated, with a rustic seat run- 
ning all around it. The ladies voted it positively delightful 
— -in fact, "too cute for anything." But every person has 




AN KLEGANT SUMMER-HOUSE. 



not the bank account of our friend of the elegant summer- 
house, who first had to buy the stump and pay railroad trans- 
por tation on it. It is not necessary, as the preceding elegant 
designs will show. Anybody who can peel bark in June, 
lay it under pressure to dry flat, and cut and fit the pieces, 
can build either of these two elegant designs that we give 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 



241 



In 



herewith out of many we have seen. Why not try ? There 
is nothing of either of them but bark and poles, not even 
the furniture. 

It is not necessary to describe how to do the work 
fact, the illustrations are the best 
description that can be given. It 
is simply a matter of taste, ingen- 
uity and judgment. We think the 
circular house especially fine, par- 
ticularly in its light and graceful 
appearance, added to by its roof 
of bark cut in scallops, and by its 
center-table and seat, covered with 
bark. It is surprising how many 
fine combinations of color may be 
gotten entirely out of bark. 

Grouping Farm Buildings. 

The barn will often contain the grainary, sometimes the 
horse-stable, and perhaps even the cow-stable. By this 




A RUSTIC SEAT. 




VENTILATED GRANARY. 



arrangement, there is saving in the original cost of the 
barn-yard buildings, with the further advantage, that the 
feed is always at hand. On larger farms, the same plan is, 



242 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



in a measure, followed. There may be separate buildings 
for each kind of domestic animal, for horses, for cattle, for 
sheep and for swine, but each of these should contain a 
supply of the necessary food. Some of the most complete 
barns have the stables for cattle in the basement, the horse- 
stables on the main floor, mills for grinding feed, cutters 
for hay and straw, pulping machines for roots, and the silos 
connected with the barn by a covered passage. There 
should also be a steam engine, for driving the machinery and 




WESIHRN CORN-CKIB. 



for pumping water, when this cannot be brought in pipes 
from higher ground. This is true economy, however many 
structures may be needed for surnlus produce. 



Granaries, Corn-Houses and Corn-Cribs. 



The typical corn-crib of new countries is simply a pen 
of rails carried up ten feet. It may be either square or 
flared toward the top ; it generally has only a rail floor and 
is often left entirely open to the rain on top. This certainly 
is a wretched way to keep corn, when the first intelligent 
thought would suggest a covering of rails and hay. A 
step in advance would be something like the illustration, 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 243 

which, only carried up seven feet, may be extended nine or 
ten feet. 

Such a crib six feet wide will keep corn as well as the 
best, and will be secure from rats and mice if an inverted 
pan, or flat stone is placed on top of the posts, next the 
crib, the posts being two feet high. If the corn is not dry 
when put in it may mould in a six feet crib in open, moist 
winters. This may be prevented even in cribs nine feet 
wide — a not unusual width for the great store cribs of the 
West — by placing a A^shaped ventilator four feet wide at 




CORN-CRIB OF POLES. 



the bottom and half the heisrht of the crib, runninor to an 
apex at the top. This is made of five-inch fence boards, 
with spaces of five or sixinches ; and very little corn will 
drop through. It gives a free passage of air from end to 
end, and circulating through the corn above. 



Glossary of Scientific Names Used in Architecture. 

Abacus. — The upper member of the capital of a column, on 

which the architrave is laid. 
Abutment. — Masonry, earth and timber, at the end of a 

bridge, or the solid part of a pier supporting an arch. 
Arcade. — A covered walk along the side of or within a 

building, with columns on the outer edge, supporting 

arches. 
Arch. — A curved, self-sustaining structure, supported by 

the key-stone and abutments ; the beginning of the arch 



244 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

is called the spring of the arch ; the middle, the crown ; 

the distance across, the span ; and vertically, the height. 
Architrave. — The lower of the three members of the 

entabliture, resting immediately on the columns. 
Astragal. — A small molding, with semi-circular profile, 

as an ornament on the top or bottom of a column. 
Attic. — The upper story or garret ot a building. An attic 

base is the base of a column, with double moldings. 
Balcony. — A projection from the exterior wall of a building, 

inclosed with a railing, usually placed before a window 

or glass door in the second story. 
Baloon Frame. — A strong frame made with few mortises 

and tenons, spikes and nails holding all firmly to- 
gether. 
Baluster. — One of the upright portions of a railing, mis- 
called Banister. 
Balustrade. — A range of balusters, connected by a rail on 

the top, and commonly called a railing. 
Banister. — See Baluster. 
Barge-board. — ^The projecting board placed at the gable 

so as to hide the horizontal timbers on the roof, more 

properly called verge-board. 
Batten. — A narrow strip of board, for covering the exterior 

joints of vertically-boarded buildings. A batten-door is 

made of boards, with battens nailed on across them as 

stiffeners. 
Battlement. — A wall on the top of a building. 
Bay. — The space between posts or buttresses; in barns a 

low space for storing hay. 
Bay Window. — A window, curved or angular, set in an 

exterior projection from the walls of a house, and having 

its base on the ground. 
Bead. — A molding whose vertical section is semi-circular; 

a molding ornamented like beads. 
Bearing. — The span of a beam or rafter, or that part which 

is without support. 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 245 

Bond. — Mode of laying bricks or stones, to break the 

joints. When the stretchers and headers, as they are 

called, are in alternate and separate courses, it is termed 

English bond; when alternately in the same course, 

Flemish bond. 
Bond-timber. — Timber laid in a wall horizontally, for tying 

it together. 
Boudoir. — Private ladies' room, for calls, dressing-room, 

etc. 
Box-shutters.— Shutters folding into cases. 
Bracket. — A support for shelves, stairs, balconies, pro- 
jecting roofs, etc. 
Breast of a Chimney. — The contracting part of the back, 

opposite the throat. 
Brick-trimmer. — A brick arch, abutting on the wooden 

trimmer, under the slab of a fire-place, to prevent the 

communication of fire. 
Bridge-board. — The notched board on which the steps of 

wooden stairs are fastened. 
Buttress. — A prop or support of masonry against the 

sides of a building, to resist pressure and stiffen walls. 
Camber. — Convexity or arch on the upper side of a beam. 
Campanile. — A tower on a building, serving as a belfry. 
Capital. — The upper projecting and ornamental part of a 

column. 
Casement. — Applied to windows divided into two parts by 

the mullion, and hung on hinges. 
Cavetto. — A concave molding, whose profile is the quarter 

of a circle. 
Cesspool.— A well or cistern under the mouth of a drain, 

to receive the sediment. 
Clapboard. — See Siding. 

Clustered Column. — One made of several united. 
Cobble-stone. — A round stone, often used for walls of 

buildings by imbedding in regular courses in mortar or 

cement. 



246 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Colonnade. — A range of columns. 

Column. — A pillar consisting of base, shaft or body, and 

capital. 
Composite Order. — A compound of the Ionic and Corin- 
thian orders. 
Console. — A bracket. 
Coping. — The capping stone or brick covering of a wall, 

wider than the wall itself, to throw off the water. 
Corbel. — A projecting piece of wood or stone from a 

building. 
Corinthian Order. — An order of Grecian architecture. 
Cornice. — The upper projecting division of an entablature ; 

any molded protection which crowns or finishes the part 

to which it is attached. 
Corridor. — A gallery or passage. 

Cottage Ornee. — An ornamental cotatge, where expres- 
sion or appearance is the chief object. 
Course. — A continuous horizontal range of stones or brick 

in a wall. 
Cove. — The concavity of an arch or ceiling. 
Cross-bridged. — The cross-bracing placed between a 

series of timbers or joists. 
Cupola. — A spheroidal roof or dome ; a small structure on 

the top of a dome. 
CuRB-ROOF. — Gambrel roof, a roof with the lower half 

inclined at a steeper angle. 
Cyma.^ — A wave-form member or part of a cornice ; also 

termed ogee. 
Deafening. — A floor covered with mortar placed beneath a 

floor, to exclude sound, and prevent the passage of 

flames. 
Details. — Applied to the drawings of the separate parts 

of a building ; working drawings. 
Doric. — An order of Grecian architecture ; intermediate 

between the Tuscan and Ionic, combining simplicity, 

strength and chasteness. 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDERS ART. 247 

Dormer Window. — A window standing vertically on a 

sloping roof. 
DovE-TAiL. — A joint made for connecting wood, the parts 

cut in the form of a dove's tail expanded, with a corres- 
ponding hollow. 
Dowel. — A pin used in connecting two pieces of wood. 
Dressings. — Parts to decorate plainer work, as the mold- 

inofs of a window. 
Drip-stone. — A projecting window-cap, usually hollowed 

beneath, that the rain may drop from it. 
Dumb-waiter. — A cupboard or platform running on pulleys, 

to convey dishes, food, etc., from one story to another. 
Elevation. — A drawing of the face or principal side of a 

building, every part seen exactly in front ; differing from 

a perspective view, which is seen from one point. 
Entablature. — The whole of the parts of an Order, above 

the column, incluciing the architrave, frieze and cornice. 
Facade. — The front of a building. 
Fascia.— One of the parallel bands used to break the 

monotony of an architrave. 
Fillet. — -A narrow, flat band, used for the separation of 

one molding from another. 
Finial. — In Gothic architecture, the top or finishing of a 

pinnacle or gable. 
Flashing. — Lead or other metal let into the joints of a 

wall, so as to lap over gutters and prevent the rain from 

injuring the interior works. 
Float. — A long, straight-edged board u^ed to render a 

plastered wall perfectly straight. 
Foils. — A term applied to rounded or leaf-like forms seen 

in Gothic windows, niches, and the like. 
Footing. — Spreading courses at the base of a wall. 
Frieze. — ^The middle part of an entablature, between the 

architrave and cornice. 
Funnel. — The stack or upper part of a chimney; the shaft. 
Furring. — Slips of wood nailed to joists and rafters, to 

bring them to an even surface for lathing. 



248 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Gable. — The triangular end of a house above the eaves. 

Gain. — The beveling shoulder of a joist or other lumber. 

Gallery. — A common passage to several rooms in an 
upper story ; a long apartment for paintings, etc. 

Gambrel Roof. — See curb roof. 

Gingerbread-work. — A profusion of fanciful, ornamental 
carvings; this is always in very bad taste. 

Girder. — The principal beam or timber in a floor. 

Girth.— Horizontal connecting timber in an upright frame. 

Gothic Architecture. — The style of architecture denoted 
by the pointed arch. It admits of great variation in all 
its parts ; the roof may be castellated or pointed, or with 
broad projecting eaves. A still greater variety exists 
in the windows, among which are the arched, triple 
lancet, rose, square-headed, oriel, triangular and other 
forms. 

Grained. — Painted in imitation of the grain or texture of 
wood. 

Groin. — A line made by the intersection of two arches, 
crossing each other at any angle. 

Ground-sill — Ground-plate. — The lower and outer 
timber, supporting the posts. 

Hall. — A large public room; the first large room within a 
building; the narrow entrance of a dwelling-house, 
designated as the entrance hall. 

Hammer-beam. — A horizontal timber, in place of a tie- 
beam, just above the foot of a rafter ; used in pairs to 
strengthen Gothic frames. 

Harmony. — In large buildings, where variety prevails, it 
is that which brings all the varied parts into an agree- 
able relation to each other. 

Headers. — Bricks laid crosswise in a wall, in contradis- 
tinction from stretchers, laid lengthwise. See Bond. 

Hip. — The sloping angle of a hipped roof. 

Hip-knob. — A finial, pinnacle or other ornament on the 
point of a gable, or on the hips of a roof. 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART 249 

HiPPED-ROOF. — A roof with sloping ends. 

Hood.— A projecting covering over a window or door, for 

shade and to throw off water. 
HooD-MoLDiNG. — The molding over a Gothic window, 

called also label-molding. 
Hydraulic Cement. — Mortar made of water lime, which 
hardens like stone under water ; used for cistern, cel- 
' lar bottoms, etc. 
NTERTiE. — A horizontal piece of timber between two posts, 

to keep them together. 
NVERTED Arch. — Arch curving downwards, to give a firm 

foundation to piers. 
ONic Order. — A Grecian order of architecture. 
TALiAN Architecture. — An irregular and beautiful style 
of modern architecture. Has projecting eaves, arcades, 
balconies, ornamental chimney-tops, campaniles, etc. 
ACK Timbers. — Those shorter than the rest in the same 

row or line, by being intercepted by something else. 
UGGLES.— Pieces of hard stone introduced to stiffen the 

joints of masonry. 
DINT. — The place where two pieces of timber come to- 
gether. 
gist. — The smaller timber of a floor. 
Key. — A piece of wood let into another across the grain, 

to prevent warping. 
King-post. — The middle post of a framed roof reaching 
from the center of the tie-beam to the ridge ; called 
crown-post. 
Label. — The outer molding over a window or doorway, 

descending a short distance on each side. 
Lancet-window. — A window in Gothic architecture, acutely 

pointed at the top. 
Landing. — The floor at the head of a flight of stairs, or 

portion of a flight. 
Lintel. — The head-piece of a door or window frame. 
Lodge. — A small house or tenement connected with a 



250 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

I 

larger. A gate lodge or porter's lodge is one placed 

near an entrance gate to an estate. 
Louver-window. — A window open to the sound of bells 

within, but with blinds to exclude rain. 
Mansard-Roof. — A French roof, inclining back slightly 

from the perpendicular, with a roof of low pitch above. 
Miter. — The junction of two boards, at an angle, by a 

diagonal fitting. 
MoDiLLiON. — A carved horizontal bracket. 
Mortise. — A hole cut in a timber to receive a tenon, or 

corresponding piece of another timber. 
Moldings. — The ornamental contour given to angles of 

cornices, window-jambs, etc., or to ornamental lines or 

borders generally. 
Mow. — The loft of a barn. 
Mullion. — The upright post or bar, dividing the two or 

more parts of a window. 
Newel. — The column about which the steps of a spiral 

stair-case wind. 
Notch-board. — The board which receives the ends of the 

steps of a flight of stairs. 
Ogee. — ^See Cyma. 
Oriel-window. — A projecting window, supported on a 

corbel or other projection ; a bay-window ; or has a 

foundation resting on the ground. 
OvoLo. — A convex molding, whose profile forms about a 

quarter of a circle on its lower inclined side. 
Panel. — A sunken space, most commonly applied to the 

portion of the door between the upright pieces (styles) 

and the horizontal pieces (rails). 
Parlor. — The sitting-room or living-room of a family ; 

more commonly restricted to a room for visitors. 
Pavilion. — A word variously applied in rural architecture; 

a broad, highly finished veranda on the better class of 

dwellings. 
Pedestal. — The lower part or base of a column, consisting 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 2$! 

of the die or square trunk, the cornice or head, and the 
base or foot ; also, the support of a vase, statue, etc. 

Pediment. — The triangular or circular part of a portico, 
. between the roof and top of the entablature. 

Pendant. — An ornament hanging from the vault of a roof, 
in Gothic architecture ; more commonly from the peak 
of a gable — the lower part of the ornament being the 
pendant, and the portion above the roof the hip-knob 
or finial. 

Piazza. — A covered walk on one or more sides of a 
building, supported on one side by pillars. It is used 
nearly synonymously with veranda ; the latter implies 
more shade and seclusion, often having lattice-work in 
front. 

Pier. — Usually the pillar-like masses of masonry from 
which arches spring. 

Pillar. — A general name for a permanent prop or support ; 
a column is an ornamental pillar, usually round, and 
belonging to one of the orders of architecture. 

Pinnacle. — The summit or apex; usually a square or poly- 
gonal pillar, at the angles of Gothic buildings, terminat- 
ing at a point, and embellished with ornament. 

Pise. — A wall constructed of stiff earth or clay, rammed in 
between molds as the work is carried up. In countries 
where frequent rains prevail, it cannot be very durable, 
unless covered, and is similar in character to walls made 
of unburnt brick. 

Pitch of a Roop\ — The proportion between the height 
and the span. If the rafters exceed in length the 
width of the building, the roof has a " knife-edge pitch ; " 
if equal to the width, it is Gothic ; if two-thirds, it is 
termed a Roman pitch ; flatter it is a Grecian pitch. 
Generally the pitch is designated by number; if the 
height of the ridge is one-fourth of the span of the 
roof it is termed " quarter pitch ; " if one-third the 
" third pitch," etc. 



252 THE PRACTICAL HOME FAFMER. 

Plan. — A drawing of the horizontal section of a building, 

showing the distribution, form and size of the parts. 
Plate. — See Roof, as showing much in little space. 
Plinth. — A projecting, vertical-faced member, forming the 

lowest part of the base of a column or wall. 
Pointing. — Trimming with mortar the joints of a wall of 

masonry. 
Porch. — An appendage to a building, forming a covered 

approach to a door or entrance. 
Porte Cochere. — A carriage porch, or covered entrance 

to a large dwelling, under which a carriage may drive; 

literally a covered carriage-way. 
Portico. -^A covered space or projection, supported by 

columns, at the entrance of a building 
Purlins. — Horizontal pieces of timber to support rafters. 
Putlog. — A horizontal timber to support a scaffold. 
Quarters. — Upright posts in partitions, to which lath are 

nailed. 
Rabbet (Rebate). — A cut made on the side or edge of a 

board, to receive the edge of another cut in the same 

manner. 
Rail. — This is a horizontal piece of timber, as between the 

panels of a door, or over balusters, etc. 
Reeding. — A small convex molding. 

Ribbing. — The timber work sustaining a vaulted ceiling. 
Ridge-pole, or Ridge-plate. — The horizontal timber or 

board sustaining the upper ends of the rafters. 
Romanesque. — A style of architecture, adopted during the 

later period of the Roman Empire. It is prominently 

marked by arches and columns, and also by irregular 

forms. 
Roof. — The upper covering of a building, consisting mainly 

of two parts, viz : the framing or trussing, and the cover- 
ing of shingles, or other material. The different forms 

are a curved or French roof, a roof with an ogee curve, 

a gable, hip, and gambrel or curb roof. 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 253 

Room. — Interior division of a dwelling, entered by a door. 
The first room (in houses containing all these different 
apartments) is the vestibule, or lobby, or ante-room, 
when used as a reception room. The second, the hall, 
or first large room within the building. There are the 
library, study, or office, or a room with these variously 
combined; the parlor or family room, sometimes used as 
an every-day living-room, in other instances as a break- 
fast-room, or a room for company only ; the drawing- 
room, or room specially for the reception of company, 
or into which the company retire from the dining-room. 
In the smaller houses the parlor and drawing-room 
are one. The dining-room and kitchen are distinct ; 
and appended to the kitchen may be the laundry 
or wash-room, the store-room or pantry, for provisions; 
the iron closet, for the coarser utensils ; the scullery or 
sink-room, where utensils and dishes are cleaned and 
kept; the bath-room; the nursery; the boudoir, or 
ladies' private dressing-room, or for the private recep- 
tion of company; and bed-rooms, the larger of which 
may have dressing-rooms attached, and closets. In the 
largest and most expensive dwellings all these rooms 
are found separately ; but as dwellings become smaller, 
the purposes of two or more are combined in one. 

Rough-cast. — Rough mortar or cement for the exterior 
walls of buildings, mixed with pebbles, small shells, etc. 

Rubble. — Small rough stones, used for walls or filling 
between walls. 

Rustic-work. — Building with the faces of stone left rough, 
and the adjoining sides wrought smooth ; ornamental 
wood structures, with the bark on. 

Safety-arch. — An arch built solid in the substance of a 
wall, to sustain any unusual weight on that part ; a dis- 
charging arch. 

Salon. — A lofty, spacious apartment ; state-room ; recep- 
tion-room. 



2 54 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Scarf-Joint. — A joint made by cutting away corresponding 
portions of timbers. 

Shaft. — The principal or central part of a column ; the 
chimney above the roof. 

Shoe. — The projecting part of a water-pipe at bottom, to 
throw the water from the building. 

Siding. — The exterior side covering of boards to a 
building. 

Sill. — The lower horizontal timber of a frame, door or 
window. 

Specification. — An exact written description of the differ- 
ent parts of a building to be erected. 

Springer. — The base of an arch ; the rib of a groined roof. 

Stack. — A number of chimney shafts combined in one. 

Stile. — The vertical piece in framing or paneling. 

Stretchers. — Bricks laid lengthwise in a wall. 

Strut. — An oblique timber in a frame, serving as a brace. 
The term brace is usually applied to smaller and shorter 
pieces. 

Stucco. — Fine plaster for covering walls, and for interior 
decorations. The best is made of two parts of sharp 
and perfectly pure sand, and one part purest of lime, 
the latter slacked with watet to a fine powder, sifted and 
mixed with the sand. Outer walls, stuccoed, should 
have broad projecting eaves to throw off water. 

Stud. — A piece of timber inserted in a sill to support a 
beam — a term usually applied to the upright scantling 
of a frame. 

SuRBASE. — A cornice or series of moldings above the ped- 
festal ; also applied to the board which passes hoTizont- 
ally around the walls of a room, to protect them from 
injury. 

Terra Cotta. — Architectual decorations, vases, chimney- 
tops, etc., made of a mixture of pure clay and broken 
flints, crushed pottery and other materials, and burned 
to the hardness of stone. 



BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE BUILDER'S ART. 255 

Tie. — Timber serving to bind walls or other parts together. 

Tracery. — In Gothic architecture, the ornamental, feathery 
or foliated upper parts of an arched window, formed by 
the branching of the mullions : the intersecting rib-work 
on a vaulted ceiling, etc. 

Trap. — A small water reservoir in a drain-pipe, to intercept 
bad odors, and retain sediment. 

Triglyph. — An ornament repeated at equal intervals in a 
Doric frieze. 

Truncated Gable. — A gable with a portion of its roof 
drooping in front. 

Truss. — A horizontal timber supported by bracings above, 
so as to form a long span without posts below. 

Turret. — A small tower, usually attached to and forming 
part of another tower. 

Tuscan. — The simplest order of architecture, formed in 
Italy in the fifteenth century. 

Valley. — The receding angle formed by the meeting of 
two inclined sides of a roof. 

Venetian Blind. — A window blind made of slats of wood 
strung together, so as to be raised or lowered by a 
string. 

Venetian Door. — A door having panes of glass on each 
side for lighting the entrance hall. 

Venetian Window. — One formed of three apertures sep- 
arated by slender piers, the center one being the largest. 

Veranda. — A covered walk on the side of a building, of an 
awning-like character, with slender pillars, and fre- 
quently partly enclosed with lattice-work. It is usually 
understood to be more secluded than a piazza. Arbor 
veranda is a frame covered with foliage. 

Verge-board. — The gable ornament of wood-work — often 
called barge-board. 

Vestibule. — See room. 

Villa. — A country house of superior character. 

Volute. — A scroll or spiral ornament, which forms the 



256 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

principal distinction of the Ionic capital, and is also 

found in the Corinthian and Composite. See Ionic 

Order. 
Wall-plate. — See Roof. 
Water-closet. — A privy, supplied with a stream of water, 

or water-pipe, to keep it clean. 
Water-lime. — A species of lime that when made into mor- 
tar (see Stucco), will become hard under water. 
Weather-board. — A board on the gable from the ridge to 

the eaves ; the outer boards of a building nailed so as to 

overlap and throw off rain. 
Weather-molding. — A molding or drip-stone, over a door 

or window, to throw off the rain. 
Well-hole. — The space enclosed by the walls of a circular 

stair-case. 
Working-drawings. — Drawings of different parts of a 

building, according to accurate measurement, including 

plans, elevations, profiles and sections, by which the 

builders are to be guided. 
Wainscot. — The wooden lining on the interior surface of a 

wall. 




TWeGBRniGS s.s Kpfcigd tg tbg Frrtvi- 



The Farm Workshop. 



*T^ACH farmer must decide for himself how much purely 
A~^ mechanical work it will repay him to perform or have 
done on the farm. Where population is dense, the division 
of labor must necessarily be mor« minute than where it is 
scattered. Hence, in thickly-settled districts, the farmer 
may find it cheaper to buy everything he does not grow on 
the farm rather than make it himself. On large estates 
there are generally carpenters, a blacksmith, and other 
artizans hired by the year; often a book-keeper, engineer 
and miller are required, until at last these employes, 
together with the farm laborers proper, and their families, 
form the nucleus of a village. We have seen all this happen 
in Illinois, and once on a farm of less than 3,000 acres. 
In the South, on some of the large estates, especially on 
sugar plantations, where the crop must be manufactured, 
and, in the North, wherever sorghum is produced in large 
quantities, it will repay the planter to do much of the 
repairing at home. 

In thinly-settled districts the farmer should himself 
know how to do simple repairing. Making rails and posts 
and fitting them for use, is strictly a mechanical art, yet on 
timbered farms this is also a part of the necessary farm 
labor. On every farm some fencing is always to be done ; 
there are gates to be made and hung, and rough sheds to 
be put up. The repair of the ordinary tools used is a 
natural application of mechanics to agriculture. The 
tightening, and even fitting, of horse-shoes, is often 
important. This only requires dexterity and observation 
to render its performance easy; and the same may be said 
of simple repairs to iron-work. 



258 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

If skilled labor is near it will be cheaper, ag a rule, to 
hire mechanics for all important repairs ; yet every farmer 
should have some simple tools and a workshop. Many 
needed mending's and changes may be done at time unfitted 
for out-door labor. If the workshop be kept supplied with 
the necessary materials for such work, there is little time 
that may not be profitably employed by those necessary to 
work .the farm. 



Sharpening Tools. 



There is no excuse for dull tools. A file will keep the 
plowshares and cultivators sharp. A grindstone and whet- 
stone will keep the mower and reaper sickles in order. 




IMPROVED SAW 



Steel teeth wear much longer in a harrow than iron ones 
and are as easily repointed ; the first cost is not much more, 
and a dull harrow maans lost time. Carry out this prin- 
ciple in your purchase and use of tools and implements, and 
it will save you fully twenty-five per cent, in wear and tear 
of implements and teams, besides bettering the quality of 
the work done. This large percentage is clear profit. 

How to sharpen tools is another question. It can be 
told only in general terms, the details must be learned by 
practice, but is not difficult. In grinding a surface, as that 
of an axe, the cutting part must be beveled off regularly 
and equally, and the edge then whetted on a stone until 
keen. A broad-axe or chisel is ground from one side only^ 



MECHANICS AS APPLIED TO THE FARM. 259 

thus preserving the beveis; it is then simply " facea " on 
the side containing the steel. In fine, every tool should be 
ground according to its structure. Formerly scythes were 
all ground upon one side. The best are now made to 
grind on both sides alike, and when so, it is stated on the 
tool. 

Proper Way to Pile an Implement. 

In filing, aiways do the cutting by thrusting the file 
from you. In the reverse motion it should not press the 
tool, because this cuts the edge of the file. In filing a saw 




A SAW CLAMP. 



preserve the form of the teeth. A cross-cut (hand-saw for 
cutting across the grain of the wood), is filed diagonally; a 
rip-saw, more nearly square across. The form of the teeth, 
it will also be observed, is quite different in the two. There 
is no mystery in filing. It is simply a question of accuracy. 
In saws every alternate tooth is to be filed in one direction, 
and every other tooth in another; observation will easily 
show this. A spade or shovel is edged from the front ; a 
plowshare is filed from the upper side, and, as a rule, the 
shares of cultivators from the bottom. The wear will show 
when this is not correct. A hoe is filed from the bottom, 
and tools for edging and paring garden-walks filed or 
ground on both sides alike. These general rules will enable 



26o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

any farm-hand to acquire the necessary skill, and this will 
be worth many dollars yearly in wages. It is skilled labor, 
and skilled labor always commands an extra price. On the 
farm the manner of holding a tool of any kind for filing 
must be arranged according to the conveniences. In filing 
saws, they must be held from springing, else they cannot 
be filed correctly. They must also be set true. 

Repairing Common Implements. 



We have said that the farmer should have a supply of 
lumber, which must always be kept perfectly dry. Handles 




OPEN LINK. 



for tools, wagon tongues, and various fixtures can be 
bought, either ready-made or sawed in the rough. They 
should be kept on hand, then the work of fitting is often 
less than that of going to the shop. You have your work- 
bench fitted with vise and claw, for holding the wood to be 
worked. A taper bit, or a larger and a smaller bit will 
form the hole to receive the hasp of a rake, fork, etc. The 
drawing-knife, a bit of glass and sand-paper will fit the end 
for the ferule (see Singletree). It is the work of perhaps ten 
minutes. A wagon tongue is worked to proper shape, and 
the irons of the broken one fitted, and so with the addition 
of a little paint you have a wagon tongue as good as 
new. 

Let us illustrate here in a single direction. An ox-chain 
is broken. You are in the woods, far from the shop. You 



MECHANICS AS APPLIED TO THE FARM. 26l 

put in a wooden toggle to last home. You have open 

links, that you bought of your hardware merchant. The 
chain is mended quicker than it has taken to tell. 



Shingling a Roof. 



More persons fail in shingling a roof than in other 
rough building work, yet it is really very simple. If you 
begin at the top of the roof to shingle, you will not be the 
first man who has done so. Bur don't ! Always begin at the 
bottom. Break the joints by laying the center of a shingle 
over the crack of two others, or a wide shingle to cover 
the cracks of narrow shingles. The rafters should be laid 
level ; the shingles laid with not more then one-quarter of 
their length exposed to the weather, and nailed above the 
lap. Very wide shingles have three nails, the average 
two, and very narrow shingles one nail each. 

Each line of shingles must be laid true to the line, one 
with the others, the lower course being laid about two 
inches over the edge of the lower sheathing board. The 
details of shineline are as follows: Stretch a line at the 
proper distance beyond the lower roof-board ; lay the butts 
of the first course of shingles to this line, narrow and wide, 
just as they come, discarding such as are shaky, wormy or 
rotten. This course laid, stretch the re-chalked line along 
the row of shingles the proper number of inches above the 
lower edge, draw it tight, snap it, and you have the mark 
for the next course. Nail on this course, always having a 
shingle cover a crack by at least one inch. So proceed, 
course by course, moving your foot-rest up the roof when 
you can no longer nail from the scaffold on the side. When 
you have reached the peak, saw the last shingles square 
with the slope of the other roof. Shingle the other side, 
saw these off fair, cover the peak with two strips, nicely 
jointed together, and the roof will be as good as the rest. 



262 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Making a Hay-Rack. 

Let a carpenter make one with iron bolts, if you can 
afford it. If not, one as strong as the best, if not so hand- 
some, is easily made by laying two 2x8 inch joists, twelve 
feet six inches long, on the bed-pieces of the wagon ; 
across these lay three 2x4-inch scantling ; mark the bottom 
pieces so these three scantlings may be let into the joists 
the depth of one inch. The marks should be, one six 
inches from the front end, one in the middle, and one at six 
inches from the rear. The scantlings, which should be 
seven feet long, are to be then securely pinned or bolted 
to the bed-pieces ; along the outside of the scantling 
securely nail a board six inches wide, one inch thick, and 
inside of where the hind wheels come, nail another four- 
inch wide board. Over the hind wheels form an arch and 
cover it with slats ; nail a cross-piece front and rear, put a 
"ladder" in front six feet high, and with three rungs, 
playing on a roller through the bed-piece, so it may be 
turned down. This rack or ladder — as a hay or grain 
rack is sometimes called — will hold all that two horses can 
draw, and will be strong ; how handsome it is will depend 
upon the skill of the builder 

Stone Fences. 



Fencing with stone walls is not to be advised in any 
case, except when it is absolutely necessary to remove the 
stones from the land. In some hill regions of the United 
States, the quantity of loose stones in the soil is a most 
serious obstacle to cultivation. The stones must be gotten 
rid of; they are a nuisance piled in the field, and are too 
heavy to haul long distances. In such cases it may be 
economy to form them into stone walls. The stones of 
fields are generally those called bowlders. That is, stones 



MECHANICS AS APPLIED TO THE FARM. 263 

that have been more or less worn by abrasion in being 
moved about by the forces of nature. They are of all 
sizes, from a man's fist to those weighing tons. The larger 
ones must be reduced by blasting or other cleavage, or 
buried in pits dug so deep as to take the stone below the 
possible reach of the plow. 

Moving Heavy Stones. 



Anything from the size of a man's head or somewhat 
less to those two men can lift may be laid into a wall, and 
the larger ones that can be moved by oxen and a stone 
boat may form the foundation. The stones may be rolled 
onto the boat and also into their places in the foundation 
wall, by means of a rolling or sliding hitch of a chain. 
Anything that one or two pair of oxen can move, may be 




SIMPLEST FORM OF STONE-BOAT. 



accomplished by passing a chain around the stone and over 
the hook, so the hook comes next the ground, or better, 
partly under the stone. The rolling hitch is made by 
passing the chain once or more around the stone and then 
over the hook — in this case the hook being next the 
ground on the side farthest from the team. Thus the 
chain will form a purchase, identical with the same hitch 
in rolling logs. The reason why oxen are better than 
horses is they move slowly and steadily, and will generally 
continue a pulling strain longer than horses or mules, 
unless the horses have been specially trained for the 
purpose. Oxen also come about more readily, and there 
is not the hamper of whipple-trees and harness. 



^^HORTICULTURE.^^ 



0rcbard, ^ineyard and Small-^ruit Qarden. 



The Farm Orchard and Garden. 



IT is a well-known fact that farmers as a class, especially 
in the West, are more poorly supplied with fruit than 
the average townspeople. One reason is, an impression 
prevails that the cultivation of fruit requires great care and 




GRIMES GOLDRN. 



attention, and that the proper soil for fruit can be found 

only in certain districts. The same may be said of the 

garden for vegetables. But if the farmer would give his 

orchard and his garden the same attention that intelligent 

farmers give their stock and corn fields, an abundance of 

fruits and vegetables might be had the year round at less 

than half Vhat the ordinary citizen has to pay for them. 

The mistake made by farmers in planting a home orchard, 

and especially in the arrangement of the vegetable garden, 

is that they follow the directions of writers of fifty and a 

367 



268 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

hundred years ago. They should employ the same methods 
that they do in their corn fields — long rows of horse culti- 
vation — -for all but the minor plants of the garden ; and for 
these improved implements of hand-cultivation should be 
used. Clean cultivation is necessary in the home orchard, 
for the orchard for home use must be separate and distinct, 
and its management different from that of commercial 
orchardists. 



Arrangement of the Home Orcliard. 



The small fruits and the vineyard may come in the same 
plot of ground and yet give ample room for all. A plat of 
land about thirteen rods by twenty-five is just five rods over 
two acres, and the shortest way across will enable most of 
the work to be done by horse-power. By beginning at the 
farther end the larger trees, as apple, pear, cherry, peach, 
plum, quince, etc., according as the climate and situation 
will allow, may come in successive rows, to be followed by 
grapes, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants 
and strawberries. To make the farther part of the orchard 
easily accessible, a pathway ten feet wide should remain 
unplanted through the middle, which will not interfere with 
the cultivation, for no grass should be allowed in the farm 
orchard. It must receive the same clean cultivation as the 
corn-field. 

Next the house may come the vegetable garden, divided 
by the same broad path, so that the cart, the wagon or the 
wheelbarrow may freely pass along from one side to the 
other ; or a space sufficient for a " turn-row " to be left on 
each side would be better ; and, in that case, the turn-row 
may be permanently seeded down to grass or cHover, to be 
cut for soiling. Hence, there is no waste space left what- 
ever, and there are no weeds to seed, in any portion of the 
garden. In the space next the house, or In the kitchen- 



ORCHARD, VINEYARD AND SMALL-FKUIT GARDEN. 



269 



garden proper, allot the most sheltered spot for a hot-bed, 
or a cold frame, and also as a border for the early cultiva- 
tion of some special crops, as cress, radish, lettuce, plants 




HIGBV SWBET APPLE. 



of cabbage, cauliflower, etc., to be followed by egg-plant, 
lima beans, okra and other heat-loving plants. Then the 
first spaces, next the small fruits, may be devoted to pie- 
plant (rhubarb), asparagus, sage, tansy, mint and other 
perennial plants, and the balance, commencing with crops 



270 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

requiring poling or staking, sugar corn, early potatoes, etc.; 
the smaller annual crops may succeed each other. Thus 
you may have what will not only make a pleasing feature 
of the homestead, but also a plat of ground that may be 
cultivated at a minimum cost, and which will turn out a 
maximum crop, if made rich enough with manure, and the 
soil is properly cultivated. 

It may be objected by some, that a row clear across 
such a patch of some varieties of plants will not be needed. 
Suppose not, piece it out with some variety, requiring the 
same space of row, always remembering to cramp nothing. 
Thus, if you want half a row of raspberries, and the same 
of blackberries, let the width be that for blackberries. 
Currants and gooseberries may be pieced out in the same 
manner. So may the asparagus and rhubarb ; carrots and 
parsnip ; cabbage and cauliflower ; radish and lettuce ; 
dwarf beans and dwarf peas ; muskmelon and cucumber ; 
bush, or patty pan squash, and many other things that 
might be named, and which will naturally suggest them- 
selves to the observing man in the first season's cultiva- 
tion. 

How to Prepare for an Orchard. 



As a rule, in the West, the soil, if undrained, is at some 
seasons saturated with water for weeks. Many persons 
make the mistake of digging deep holes in such soils in 
which to set the trees. Nothing could be more fatal. With 
the plow and subsoiler make the orchard " one great hole." 
That is, deepen the soil, and cast it into high beds corre- 
sponding with the width of the rows of orchard trees. 

There is no better time than immediately after harvest 
for preparing the soil. If not naturally drained it must be 
artificially drained, as a prerequisite to the best success. 
Upon prairie soils, plow the land in one of the directions 
in which the trees are to be set, as deep as the soil will 



ORCHARD, VINEYARD AND SMALL-FRUIT GARDEN. 



271 



admit, following in the furrow with a subsoil plow, and 
loosening the earth below to as great a depth as possible, 
leaving the surface rough. If the soil is plowed both ways, 
to form squares so much the better. 




CANADA REINETTE APPLE. 



Just before cold weather, but always when the landTis 
dry and friable, proceed along the tops of the ridges where 
the trees are to be set, and cast two deep furrows apart so 
as to leave a "land side" in the middle. The ground 
should be left now until spring. Then, when the earth is 
in a good and friable state for working, set the trees so 
that the necks will be from one-half to one inch deeper 
than they stood in the nursery — in heavy soils the same 
depth they stood in the nursery — being sure they row both 
ways. 



272 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER 



Laying Out the Orchard and Planting. 



Begin at one side of the field, and extend the row as 
far as you wish, setting stakes exactly in line, and so the 
last stake will be some distance beyond the last row of 
trees desired. Then from the place of beginning, run a 
line at a right angle from the first. This may be done by 
adjusting two ten feet rods — by means of a square — -at 
right angles to each other, and bracing them. Then set a 
stake at the corner, and another one at the end, and stand- 
ing some distance behind the first stake, extend the line by 
means of other stakes as far as desired. So proceed from 
each corner until you intersect the first line run, correcting 
any errors that may occur. Then measure and stake 
accurately, the distance required for each tree, with a chain 
or tape line, entirely around the piece, and then the inter- 
vening spaces across the orchard plat. Thus, if you have 
done the work correctly, the stakes thus set will line both 
ways. 

The Distance Apart. — The distance at which apple trees 
should be set is entirely a matter of taste with the planter. 
At thirty feet apart, with good cultivation, many varieties 
will meet and interlash their branches at the end of eig'hteen 
or twenty years, if the cultivation has been good, and the 
trees remain healthy. Our own experience is, that twenty 
feet is a proper distance for apple trees, but we should set 
every alternate row with sorts that bear early, and by liberal 
cultivation and root pruning, force them into bearing, and 
wear them out at the end of twelve years, and then grub 
them out, leaving the alternate rows to occupy the entire 
land, plowing the earth from the centers, towards the 
remaining trees. Thus they will eventually be placed upon 
beds well elevated, and sloping gradually to the centers, 
until near the dead furrows. If the remaining trees inter- 
fere too much in the rows, every alternate one may be taken 



ORCHARD, VINEYARD AND SMALL-FRUIT GARDEN. 



273 



out, and at last you will have your trees forty feet apart 
each way, the proper distance when then they get age. 




TETOFSKV APPLE. 



Planting. — To set your trees, provide yourself with a 
fence board, say nine feet long, notched in the middle, and 
containing an inch and a half hole at accurate distances 



18 



274 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

from each end — say six inches. Place the notch against 
the stake where the tree is to set; tlirust a short stake 
through the hole at each end, and remove the board, allow- 
ing the outside stakes to remain. Dig the hole and so pro- 
ceed until you have the whole completed. Or, having two 
gauge-boards, exactly alike, one hand can be diggingwhile 
another is setting. In planting the tree, all that is necessary 
is to slipthe holes in theboard over the pegs, and the notch 
in the middle will mark the exact place where the tree is to 
stand. 

In digging the holes, be sure you have them large 
enough to accomodate the roots without crowding, leaving 
a good, broad mound in the center, upon which to set the 
tree. This is easily accomplished by drawing the earth to 
the center, after the hole is dug, tramping it solid, and then 
smoothing the mound to your satisfaction. 

When to Buy Trees and When to Plant Them. 



We prefer to order and receive the trees in the autumn 
for obvious reasons. They should be shipped as soon after 
the fall of the leaf as possible. Having received them, cut 
all ends of lacerated roots as clean as possible, and the 
trees being pruned into shape, heel them in, in some place 
where the winter sun Avill not tall on them in the middle of 
the day. To do this dig a trench on some well-drained 
spot, large enough to contain all the roots, and about a 
foot deep, throwing the earth to the south. Lay the roots 
into this trench, the trees as closely together aS' possible, 
and at an angle of about forty- five degrees. Cover the 
roots with mellow earth, dug frt)m in front of where the 
roots lie, and cover the stems, also, well up to the branches. 
They are then safe for the winter. 

Much has been said first and last about the proper time 
to plant orchard trees. If you are ready to plant and your 
soil has been properly prepared, there is no objection to 



ORCHARD, VINEYARD AND SMALL-FRUIT GARDEN. 2/5 



fall planting, if it is properly done. The great difficulty 
with fall-planted trees is, first, they are not jarotected from 
being swayed about by the wind. If fall planted, this must 
be attended to by carefully staking and tying. Then raise 
a sharp mound of earth about the tree. This will assist in 
holding it firm. The second and principal objection to 
fall-planted trees is the loss by winter evaporation, and 




SUMMER ROSE AITLE. 



especially by our cold, drying winds. Hence, we should 
guard against this by protecting all such trees from the 
wind and sun as much as possible the first winter. One of 
the means to meet this end is a more severe pruning (cut- 
ting back) than is usual with spring-planted trees. Other 
means will be readily suggested by the planter's own 
observation. On the whole, we prefer spring planting in 
the West. 



lyG THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

What Varieties to Plant. 



There is this to be remembered in planting a home 
orchard. While the cultivator must select measurably of 
those varieties that are hardiest and most prolific, he may, 
nevertheless, give himself larger latitude in selection than 
the purely market orchardist, whose selection runs to few 
varieties and those which will give the largest crops of 
fruit. The farmer raises fruit for himself, and may be con- 
tent with a smaller crop and better fruit. The illustrations 
of fruits given in this chapter are not intended to convey 
the idea that they are the best for general cultivation. 
They are superior fruits, in repute in particular localities, 
and are given here to show forms and characteristics. 



Apples, their Cultivation and Varieties. 



Whatever the cultivation of the general orchard, the 
care of the home or garden orchard should be as good as 
that of the garden. The cultivation, however, must be 
superficial — only enough to keep the surface soil in tilth. 
About the tenth of July it is not a bad plan to sow buck- 
wheat, and just before it comes into bloom plow it lightly 
under. It keeps down weeds, and when turned under helps 
to enrich the soil. 

Pruning, Etc. — The pruning is important. Whenever 
you see a twig that is liable to give trouble by crossing 
another, take it out, whatever the season of the year. But 
do not prune too much — in the West, especially. The 
thicker the head the better, provided it does not get so 
dense as to exclude proper light and air from the leaves. 
The form of the tree must also be studied, and its natural 
habit be complied with. Insects must be watched, and the 
proper means taken to destroy them. The bark of trees 
seldom gets mossy and bark-bound where the soil is culti- 



ORCHARD, VINEYARD AND SMALL-FRUIT GARDEN. 2/7 

vated. If it does, it should be scraped, as to the rouo-h 
bark, and washed with soft soap, or with a solution of pot- 
ash and water. If leaf-bHght attacks the trees, cut it away 
at the first indication and burn the twigs. If trees die from 
the effects of a hard winter, take them up and plant again. 
The first ten bearing years of any apple or any other long- 
lived tree is better than all that comes after. The profit is 
in young, thrifty trees, not in old ones. In the West, the 
average productive life of an apple orchard is less than 
twenty-five years. Trees five years old of early bearing 
sorts will produce fruit ; the later bearing varieties will range 
longer, even up to ten years for such varieties as Northern 
Spy. 

The Cherry. 



There is no fruit more easily cultivated than the cherry, 
and none more liable to disaster than the sweet varieties. 
Its great enemies in the West are black-knot and the cur- 
culio. Do not attempt to raise any cherries but Early 
Richmond (Early May) or Late Morello, except in those 
districts where the sweet varieties are healthy. Michigan 
and some portions of Ohio are the only States in the West 
where sweet cherries are generally a success. Every farm 
should have a hundred trees of Early Richmond and Late 
Morello. The latter for the reason that they often give 
a crop when the first fails, and they are about two weeks 
later. The illustration shows the Late Morello at the bot- 
tom, and Early Richmond at the top. 

As we go East, and especially South, the sweet varie- 
ties may be more freely cultivated. East of the Alleghenies 
• their cultivation is general. The inference then is that the 
chief difficulties in the West are too hot and dry summers, 
and too cold and dry winters. This is borne out by the 
fact that Michigan is congenial to the sweet cherry ; its 
climate is moist, comparatively cool in summer and mild in 



278 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

winter. When the cherry is raised for tamily use, we 
should bud on Maheleb stocks, since there are no suckers 
and the fruit is larger. But on Morello the bearing is more 
profuse and the trees come into bearing earlier 

Pears— Their Variety and Cultivation. 



It has bean said that pears cost the amateur ten times 
as much to cultivate as to buy them. It is certain that 
pears are only successfully cultivated for market in widely 
isolated localities. Still we have seen pears growing in 
farmers' gardens and bearing regularly, in many apparently 
unfavorable localities, judging from the lack of orchards 
near. The pear is long-lived, and resists severe winters. 
Its great drawback is blight, except on soils peculiar to the 
tree. In Michigan, for instance, some sections of Indiana 
and Illinois, and elsewhere in the West, are trees planted 
by the French missionaries of the last, and even preceding, 
century, " hale and hearty yet." Still, it is not to be denied 
that "pear culture" /V " treacherous. " It is best for the 
amateur to experiment with dwarf pears ; we have had good 
success with them in garden culture. 



Peaches. 

They are as easily cultivated as corn, south of 40 
degrees, and pretty much all over Michigan up to latitude 
.43 degrees. The only serious drawback is the disease 
called yellows, and this generally exists in the more sandy 
districts. "Curl" in the leaf is another disability, but not 
so fatal as the yellows, as deadly to the peach as is gland- 
ers to the horse. The only remedy is to grub the trees 
whenever found, and in pruning always clean your knife- 
blade with a solution of carbolic acid after pruning one tree 
and before commencing on another 



ORCHARD, VINEYARD AND SMALL-FRUIT GARDEN. 



279 



When you plant a new orchard, always be sure you g-et 
your budded trees from a nursery not affected with the yel- 
lows. A peach orchard should never be allowed to grow 
up in grass if you wish good fruit. The curculio and damp, 
hot weather often cause rot, but no person, on'account of any 
of these causes, should refuse to set peach trees wherever 
the climate is favorable to carry the trees through the win- 




KAKIV FAT. 



ter. Don't raise seedlings because they come up and grow 
themselves. Buy budded trees or bud them yourself. 



The Small Fruits. 



Blackberries. — These should be planted six feet apart 
between the rows, by three and a half feet in the row, and 
cut off when the canes are four feet high. 

Raspberries. — These are planted the same distance 



28o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

apart between the rows as blackberries, by three feet in the 
row. They are cut off at a hei^dit of three feet. Currants 
and gooseberries are planted four feet apart between rows, 
by about three feet in the row. The cultivation should be 
clean. 

Strawberries. — The strawberry is universally culti- 
vated. No farm-garden should be without them. Any land 
rich enough to bring forty or fifty bushels of corn per acre, 
under good cultivation, will do. The ground should be 
deeply and thoroughly well pulverized. Mark the land, if 
for field culture, the distance as for corn. If for garden 
cultivation, the rows may be three feet apart. For field 
culture, the land may be marked both ways, and one good 
plant placed at each intersection, spreading the roots 
naturally, placing the plants so the crowns will not be above 
the surface, giving a little water to the roots if the soil be 
not fairly moist, and after the water has settled away, 
drawing the dry earth over all. For garden culture, one 
plant to three feet of space will be sufficient, unless the 
plants are to be raised in stools, and the runners kept cut 
out, when a plant to each two feet will be about right, if 
you want extra large berries. 

The cultivation is simple. The spaces between the 
rows, about two feet wide, may be kept clean with the cul- 
tivator. In the rows the weeds may be kept, early in the 
season, clean with the cultivator; later, when the runners 
have encroached on the rows, the weeds must be pulled 
out, if necessary, but on fairly clean soil the cultivation will 
not be difficult. Beds of the previous year, and which 
should be in full fruit this season, may be kept clean 
between the rows with the cultivator. The weeds will not 
trouble much until the crop is gathered. 

Picking and Packing Orchard Fruit. 



Before leaving the subject of orchard fruits, something 
should be said about picking. Never shake the harder 



ORCHARD, VINEYARD AND SMALL-FRUIT GARDEN 



281 



fruits from the tree, unless they are intended simply for 

their juice. Pick by hand, in smooth 
baskets, and handle without bruis- 
ing until they are in the packages 
properly closed for market. Then 
they will remain intact. If barreled, 
press in the head so it will squeeze 
down hard upon the first layer of 
apples or pears. Although this may 
indent, it will -not rot the fruit. It is 
shaking about in the package that 
destroys fruit. In picking, provide 
iyourself with a proper ladder. The 
form shown in the illustration is the 
proper one, and it also makes a 
good step-ladder for a variety of 
purposes. 




FRUIT-PICKING LADDER. 



The Grapes for Farmers. 



The grapes for the farmer's garden are not the new and 
untried varieties brought out every year for trial at five 
dollars a vine. It is true that from these successive varie- 
ties have come the well-established sorts in general repute. 
If experiments are interesting, make them by all means, but 
stick to well-established varieties until you have found a- 
better. Our choice would be that Concord should have a 
place everywhere. It is a good grape, north, south, east 
and west. Then decide as to the other varieties to fill up 
the complement of the vineyard, earlier and later. Many 
of Rodgers' hybrids are worthy of trial. If you are at a 
loss, ask the advice of some practical cultivator near you. 
In the North, especially north of forty degrees, we should 
plant principally of Concord, with Delaware and Clinton to 
fill up. the vineyard. In the cultivation, avoid close summer 



282 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



pruning. As to soil, land that will produce forty bushels 
of corn per acre will give good crops of grapes if the 
ubsoil is not wet. 

Ctiltivation of the Vine. — In the cultivation of the grape 
avoid close pruning in summer, pinch the side growth of 
the current year to about two buds on each spur, and the 
vine being in fruit, prune none at all after the middle of 
July, except to clip off superabundant growth. This may 
be done with a corn-knife. Avoid, also, all fancy training. 
Close pruning and fancy training, advocated by so many 
theoretical writers, has done more to suppress the cultiva- 
tion of the vine than the want of superior varieties. For 

^ - - -18 




GRAPE-VIN£ TRELLIS. 



ourselves we gave up, many years ago, the trellis for simple 
stakes, either bowing the vine or twisting and tying it 
around the stake. Our plan with young vines is to set 
one-year old plants 8x8 feet for the stronger growing 
varieties, and 6x6 feet for the weaker, as, for instance, 
Delaware. 

The first season we simply tie the vine to a slender 
stake, cutting back in the fall to three eyes. The next 
spring we rub out two of these eyes, reserving the strong- 
est shoot. This is tied to the permanent stake, which may 
be three or four inches in diameter and six feet high, 
although five feet is enough. 

When the vine has reached a height of six feet it is 
pinched off at that height, the laterals as they put out are 
pinched off beyond the first bud. When this bud makes 



ORCHARD, VINEYARD AND SMALL-FRUIT GARDEN. 



283 



growth to the extent of one bud, it is stopped again be- 
yond that bud. It is sometimes (generally) pinched back 
once more. This leaves a suc- 
cession of three buds, for fruit- 
ing the next year, on every 
spur. 

Covering the Vines. — We 
believe in laying down the vines 
and covering them with a little 
earth each winter, in the North. 
It gives better fruit and saves 
occasional winter-killing. Vines 
six or seven feet long and stud- 
ded with fruit, three bunches 
for each spur, and planted 8x8 
will give tons of fruit per acre 
in good seasons. The aim of 
the cultivator is to keep the 
vine going by encouraging new 
fruit spurs each year that the 
bearing may be continued for, 
years. 

The time will come when 
the vine must be cut down at 
such a point as to induce the 
formation of a bud near the 
ground, and upon which to form 
a new bearing vine. This may 
be so arranged that about one- 
quarter, or up to a half, may 
be cut back each year ; or two shoots may be reared 
from each vine, one for fruit, to be cut away in the fall, and 
the other to succeed it the next year. Our own plan, how- 
ever, is to allow only one strong shoot, and renew the 
whole vine when necessary. Thus we have always got 
more and better fruit from the same area. 




Vine of Two Canes Trained to Stake. 



GRPlfTIRG KUD BUDDIRG. 



Grafts, Cuttings and Seedlings. 



YryHE object of budding and grafting may be briefly 
{-^ stated. If the seed of a fruit be planted, the tree or 
shrub growing from that seed will not bear fruit like that 
from which the seed was taken. If, then, you wish to grow 
a certain choice apple, peach, pear or other fruit, it is use- 
less to keep the seed or " stone " of that particular fruit 
and plant it. If it be an apple seed that you plant, the tree 
growing from it would, certainly, produce apples ; but they 
would, almost certainly, be of quite another variety, and, 
perhaps, of a very inferior quality. It is, in fact, by thus 
planting seeds and growing what are termed seedling-trees, 
or "seedlings," that new varieties are produced. Most 
are valueless — one in several thousand may, by some 
chance, produce a new and, perhaps, splendid variety of the 
fruit. It is very difficult to .make fruit-tree cuttings (that is, 
branches cut off and put in the ground) grow. If you cut 
a branch from a willow and put the cut end into the earth, 
it will at once form roots and become a tree ; a branch 
from a fruit-tree so treated dies. 

If, then, you have a tree bearing a certain choice 
variety of fruit, you may cause the reproduction of the 
same choice variety thus : cut from the tree bearing the 
crood fruit " grafts " or " buds ; " then take certain branches, 
or the main stem, of a valueless tree of the same species, 
and, having destroyed its natural shoots, " bud " or " graft," 
as hereafter described, with your cuttings. By some law 
of nature the sap which comes up the stem of that tree 
will, on entering the new wood made by the portion 
grafted, produce fruit exactly like the tree from which the 



284 



GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 285 

cutting has been taken. Thus, with a stem of the same 
species, but of a different variety, you may produce a tree all 
the top and branches of which will yearly give you a fruit 
unlike what the original tree grew, but like to that grown 
upon the one from which your shoots came. Note — the 
tree grafted and the one from which the graft is taken 
must be of the same species. You cannot graft an oak 
with an apple, an apple tree with a peach, a plum tree with 
a pear ; but any variety of the same species may be grafted 
with another. 

The Grafter's Art. 



Any boy or girl on a farm may easily learn to graft and 
cud. Except in the more unusual kinds of grafting, that 
art is exceedingly simple, and budding requires only nicety 
and care. Grafting is uniting a portion of a shoot (scion), 
containing one or more buds, upon a " stock " or a root, 
with a view to their union, and subsequent growth. If 
varieties came true from seed, grafting and budding would 
be less important than they now are. If fruits could be 
readily propagated from cuttings, there would be little use 
for grafting or budding, but they do not. Hence, grafting 
and budding will always be necessary. 

Grafting on the Farm. — On the farm, it will yearly be 
desirable, there being but few orchards that will not require 
some change of varieties. If a tree, bush or vine proves 
barren or long in coming into bearing, it may be made to 
fruit, by grafting on it some earlier bearing variety. An 
unprofitable grape vine may be root-grafted with a better 
sort. Stone fruits may be budded to varieties better 
adapted to the climate and situation. Young seedlings 
are to be raised and grafted or budded as required ; graft- 
ing being usually employed for the apple and cherry, and 
budding for the other orchard fruits. The peach, pear and 
plum should be budded, though all the fruits may be grown 



286 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

by qrafting', and the plum is, perhaps, as often thus propa- 
gated as by budding. 

How to Graft. 

The usual modes of procedure are by " cleft grafting " 
and by "saddle grafting" — the latter being little used 
except where the "stock" and "graft" are of nearly the 
same size. The whole art is to so fit the parts that the 
fiber or inner barks come naturally together, for this insures 
the passage from one to the other of the "cabium," that is 
to say the gummy fluid beween the sap-wood and bark, 
from which both wood and bark are formed. To insure 
this the graft is generally slightly crossed with the stock by 
which the union of the two is at some point made certain. 
The whole is then covered with "grafting wax," to exclude 
moisture and air. If the grafting be done in the spring, 
between the rising of the sap and the putting out of the 
leaves, a proper union will soon take place. 

Root Grafting. — This is performed in precisely the 
same manner as stock grafting ; it being simply the proper 
union of the "scion" upon a piece of root, say six inches 
long, and preferably, that portion of the root of the year- 
old seedling next the crown of the plant. Root grafting is 
usually performed late in winter. It is not necessary to 
describe the performance here, since it does not pertain to 
the farm, but is a part of the nursery work now generally 
done with machines. Hence the root grafts may be bought 
of nurserymen cheaper than the work can be done on the 
farm b)' hand. 

Cutting and Saving Scions. 



Scions may be taken at any time in winter when the 
trees are not frozen. Select healthy twigs, of the current 
year's growth, with a terminal bud to each ; let the sticks 
of your scions be of nearly equal lengths ; tie with three 



• BUDDING AND GRAFTING. 287 

bands into small bundles, not more than three inches 
through. Correctly label each bundle according to the 
variety. This should be done with a tag, wired on, and 
also by sticking a sharpened slip of wood in the top of 
each bundle, with the name plainly marked. You may 
thus easily know the variety contained in each when the 
bundles are packed away. Set these bundles in moist 
sand, moist sawdust, or in moist (not wet) moss. Place in 
a cellar that will not freeze, and one that is secure from 
mice. The cuttings will then keep in good order until 
wanted. Scions of the peach or plum should be cut in 
autumn, since these trees are liable to be injured by severe 
weather. 

Grafting-Wax. 



Almost every professional grafter has his own formula 
for making grafting-wax. Many use, instead, a mixture of 
blue clay and fresh cow-dung, kneaded and beaten until it 
will work like putty. This really forms one of the best ap- 
plications for grafting, in a small way, upon nursery stocks ; 
a ball of the mixture being formed all around the mutilated 
stalk and graft. Grafting-wax is simply a compound of 
rosin, tallow and beeswax, in such proportions as to admit 
of being easily applied when softened by warmth, but rrot 
liable to melt and run in the sun's rays. A good grafting- 
wax is made of three parts of rosin, three of beeswax, and 
two of tallow. A cheaper composition, but liable to adhere 
to the hands, is made of four parts of rosin, two of tallow, 
and one of beeswax. One of the best and cheapest con- 
sists of one pint of linseed oil, six pounds of rosin, and 
one pound of beeswax. These ingredients, after being 
melted and mixed together, may be applied, when just 
warm enough to run, by means of a brush ; or may be 
spread thickly with a brush over sheets of muslin, or thin, 
tough paper (manilla tissue paper), which are afterwards, 



288 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. • 

during a cold day, cut up into plasters of convenient size 
for applying, or the wax, after cold, may be worked up 
with wet hands, and drawn out into thin strips or ribbons 
of wax, and wrapped closely around the inserted graft. 
This is the better way on the farm, and in all cases the wax 
should be closely pressed, so as to fit closely to every part, 
and leave no interstices, since it is indispensable that every 
portion of the wound on the stock and graft be e.xcluded 
from the air. 

Budding. 



In relation to budding, the late Dr. Warder, in "Amer- 
ican Pomology," wrote : "It has been claimed in behalf 
of the process of budding, that trees which have been 
worked in this method are more hardy and better able to 
resist the severity of winter than others of the same varie- 
ties which have been grafted in the root or collar, and 
also that budded trees come sooner into bearing. Their 
general hardiness will probably not be at all affected by 
their manner of propagation ; except, perhaps, where there 
may happen to be a marked difference in the habit of the 
stock, such, for instance, as maturity early in the season, 
which would have a tendency to check the late growth of 
the scion placed upon it — the supplies of sap being dimin- 
istied, instead of continuing to flow into the graft, as it 
would do from the roots of the cutting or root-graft of a 
variety which was inclined to make a late autumnal growth. 
Practically, however, this does not have much weight, nor 
can we know, in a lot of seedling stocks, which will be the 
late feeders, and which will go into an early summer rest." 

When to Bud. 



The time for budding is before the tree has perfected 
its terminal bud, or during that season when the bark may 
be separated from the wood. The late F. R. Elliott, in an 



GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 289 

essay before the Ohio State Agricultural Society, sums up 
the whole matter concisely. He says : 

"^ The time for insertion of buds into the stock for the 
purpose of changing the kind of fruit, varies with the habit 
and character of both the tree to be propagated and the 
stock on which it is to be worked. All buds, in order to 
be successful, must be well ripened — that is, the tree on 
which they have formed must have made its terminal bud, 
or, in other words, the growth of the shoots must present 
a continuation of perfect formed leaves to its point. The 
ripening of buds occurs earlier in some varieties than in 
others ; usually early summer fruits ripen their buds earlier 
than winter sorts. Next, the stock in which the bud is to 
be inserted must be in a vigorous, healthy condition, but 
apparently about to close its season's growth. Here 
again comes the necessity before alluded to, of selecting in 
the seed-bed the different habits of the young plants 
relative to early or late maturity. Through our Northern 
middle States, the usual time to commence budding the 
apple and pear is about the loth to 15th of August. Further 
south they are in condition in June ; and so on, all the 
intermediate time, according to latitude and season ; some 
seasons being earlier than others by six to ten days. 

" Such stocks as grow late in the season should be 
budded late, because as new layers of wood are constantly 
forming with every bud of extension in growth, it follows 
if the bud is inserted too soon, it must be covered and 
destroyed. On the other hand, if the bud be inserted too 
late in the season, the cambium has acquired consistency, 
the ripened flow of sap is checked, and the bud having no 
powers in unison, dies. The quince; therefore, from its 
habit of growing very late in the season, should be the last 
to bud. 

How to Prepare the Buds. 

" If it is necssary, in order to have the buds ready to 
meet the growth of the stock, that the scion or branch 



290 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

from which buds are to be taken should be made to hasten 
its maturing- of the buds, then pinch off tlie end of the 
shoot one or two buds. In from eight to twelve days the 
remaining buds will have ripened and fitted themselves for 
forming either new plants or branches. If this pinching is 
done early in the season, and the branch left to remain on 
the tree, the result is, the buds, after ripening, send out 
new branches, and make a sort of second growth. If scions 
have to be brought from a distance, or if it is desired to 
keep them several days, wrap them first in damp moss, or, 
failing that, a damp cloth ; then inclose that in paper, and 
the whole in oiled silk. Other material will answer, 
provided moisture and a cool temperature be kept around 
and next them. 

Materials Necessary for Budding. 



Bands of strings for tying the bud in its place after 
setting, are requisite ; these may be of bass matting, such 
as is used in wrapping sheet iron or furniture, and which 
may be also procured by getting the bark of our common 
basswood in the spring or early summer, and laying it 
awhile to soak in water, when the outer rind readily peels 
off, and the inner bark peels into thin, strong, flat strips, 
that tie easily when wet ; woolen-yarn, cotton-wicking and 
many other materials are used. Anything thin, soft and 
strong will answer. Bass bark is the best and should 
always be wet just before using. A knife with a thin blade, 
sometimes rounded at the point, and at the opposite end a 
wedge-shaped piece of smooth ivory or bone, is used. 

Spring Budding. 



Although the summer is the time for most of budding 
operations, yet it sometimes happens that a new sort is 
obtained late in the spring, and, being valuable, it is desir- 



GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 



291 



able to make every bud become a tree. The scions are, 
therefore, kept until the trees have made leaves, when the 
buds are inserted in the usual manner, and as soon as they 
are united the top of the stock is bent over or cut off, and 
the sap being forced into the new set bud, it makes a good 
growth the same season. 

Grafting the Grape. 



Grafting the grape does not differ, essentially, from 
other grafting. The ordinary cleft-grafting upon the grow- 
ing root is usually performed. Wax is not used since, the 
graft inserted, the earth is then drawn around the graft, 
which protects it from air. The vine, however, must be 
grafted either in the winter, the early spring before the sap 
has started, or so late that, the leaves being out, will 
prevent flooding of the graft and its drowning from the 
bleeding of the root. Any one who has pruned the vine 
in spring will easily understand this. 

Vines may be laid down and grafted as late as mid- 
summer. Our advice is : keep your grafts in a cool place 
until the vine is in full leaf; insert your scions in the root, 
but leave at least a portion of the original vine, or stock, 
growing ; wait until your grafts have become securely 
united to the stock and have put forth leaves of their own ; 
then cut away the old vine. The leaves having formed on 
the new part, the sap will be, at least partly, absorbed by 
them, and the "bleeding" be less. 




V)gGGT?iBCG BRRDGniRG. 



Economy of the Garden. 

OUTRANGE to say, the family table of nearly every other 
A^ man of equal means is better supplied with vegetables 
than that of the farmer. So few, indeed, have good gar- 
dens, that the class may almost be said to do without fresh 
vegetable food. Why is this so? The majority with whom 
we have talked have freely admitted their short-comings 
in this respect, but excused themselves by saying that they 




THH WEALTH OF THE GARDEN. 



could not afford the time to " potter" in the garden. Here 
lies the principal difficulty. It is pottering work according 
to the old-fashioned way of cultivating everything in narrow 
rows and small beds. Apply the same common sense here 
that you do in the cultivation of field crops, and you may raise 
half the food of the family on a single acre, at an average 
outlay of about forty dollars. The same labor and money 
applied to the corn field will raise, say, six acres of corn. 
It will produce $200 worth of garden stuff, none too much 
for the average farmer's family. 

Garden Cultivation. — Potatoes, early corn, okra, cab- 
bage, early peas, summer squash, etc., may be grown in 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 293 

three-feet rows ; late peas and tomatoes in five-feet rows ; 
muskmelons, cucumbers, etc., in six-feet rows ; watermelons 
in eight-feet rows, and squashes and pumpkins in twelve- 
feet rows. A'sparagus and pie-plant should have four feet 
between the rows ; beets, cauliflowers, early cabbage, car- 
rots, parsnips and onions, two feet; and the smaller plants, 
such as the radish, lettuce, spinach, and all the so-called 
bedded plants, eighteen inches between the rows. All 
these garden vegetables, except the bedded plants, may be 
cultivated almost entirely with the horse and cultivator, the 
thinning being about the only work that needs be done by 
hand. The whole cultivation of bedded plants, and the 
close cultivation, when young, of all others, except the 
gross growers, may be managed with the hand-cultivator. 



How One Man Became a Gardener. 



The following account of how one woman succeeded in 
having a good garden will show that any one may do the 
same if the husband consents. 

" Why do you not ask your husband to lay out a garden 
and have it taken care of?" 

"Oh, it is of no use. My husband says it is cheaper to 
buy our vegetables. He cannot spare time nor have the 
bother; the consequence is the vegetables are never fresh, 
for I have to order them from the city. I really would not 
mind working in the garden myself if I only knew how ; 
but, indeed, it is about all I can do, with the help of Jane, 
to take care of the flowers and my house." 

" Oh," replied her friend, " it is easy enough. Do it by 
proxy. Buy a good practical book on fruit and gardening, 
and get your husband interested. Get him to have the 
garden plowed, harrowed, and nicely raked, and hire the 
hard work done under your own supervision. Any intelli- 



294 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

gent man can take care of a garden if he is properly 
directed." 

'Yes, the men know enough — at least to keep out of 
the garden, but they dearly like good fruits and vegetables. 
I have often envied you your nice garden. Your husband 
really has a talent that way." 

" Has he ? Yes, that is true, but it is an acquired one." 

"Indeed! How did it come about? " 

" Well, I was once in the same strait that you are. At 
length I took the initiative. After coaxing and coaxing I 
induced my husband to have me a piece of ground man- 
ured, plowed and harrowed. By hook and by crook I had 
it cultivated. I planted strawberries and some other small 
fruits. We had plenty of vegetables, and the second year, 
strawberries, some raspberries and blackberries and a few 
currants. My husband never went near the garden, but I 
could see the satisfaction with which he enjoyed its products, 
and I noticed, also, that we never had any trouble with the 
hired men. In fact I get many an hour's work from them, 
and they an occasional nice dish in pay. The third spring I 
took my husband into the garden and lamented that it had 
really grown beyond my powers, and how sorry I was that 
the good living we had enjoyed must now cease." 

"That would be a pity," he said, "but, really, it is of 
no use to set a hired man to work here, and I really have 
not the time to do it. Nor is it right th^t you should have 
the care and supervision of it. I suppose we must go back 
to the old way of getting stale things from the city." 

"An apparently bright thought struck me. I say appar- 
ently, for, of course, I had the plan all laid out. If, said I, 
a good man could be spared me three days a week, during 
April, May, and June, I think I could manage it." 

"Oh," my husband replied, "hire a man constantly if 
you like," and, after going into a brown study for a few 
moments, he said, " Jenny, I think I'll learn gardening 
myself, and after this year, take the whole thing off your 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 295 

hands. That garden is worth more than any ten acres on 
the farm. And it really seems not to cost much beyond a 
little clever care." 

"But then, every man is not like your husband nor 
mine. It is really surprising how so many farmers are con- 
tent to live year after year without the comfort of a good 
garden, with its health-giving fruits, and wealth of veget*- 
ables, which should constitute more than half the living of 
the family." 



The Hot-Bed. 



The heating material — fermenting horse-manure — 
should be laid in the bottom of the bed, about fourteen 
inches thick, and an inch of earth put over all to form a 
level surface for the troughs, which must be filled with 
the best compost of one-half friable loam — sandy loam 
preferable — and one-half thoroughly rotted manure inti- 
mately mixed. Old hot-bed manure and earth laid in a 
heap the previous season and turned two or three times is 
the best. Now, if the farmer has, in addition to this, a 
hot-bed frame of four sashes, three feet four inches wide 
by six feet long, he may not only raise lettuce for his fam- 
ily, but also have space enough for tomato, egg-plant, 
cabbage, cauliflowers, kohl-rabi, lettuce, celery, etc., for 
transplanting, either into the open frame we have men- 
tioned, or directly into the open air, or both, for the frame 
will accommodate extra early samples, while the general 
crop of hardy plants may go safely into the open air as soon 
as danger of severe white frosts is over. But remember 
always, never transplant from the hot-bed into the open air 
without at least ten days hardening to the weather. Hence, 
for the farm garden, the necessity of the open frame, for, 
without it, the air required for cabbage, for instance, might 
be fatal to the tender plants. 



296 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Laying Up the Hot-Bed. 



The best manure is that made by horses fully fed on 
grain, and bedded with hay or straw. Manure made with 
sawdust bedding is apt to heat violently and burn itself out 
quickly. If, however, it be tempered with tan bark, it 
makes an excellent heating material. The next best tem- 
pering material is the chaff of straw. If neither of these 
can be obtained, the manure must be tempered by turning 
often enough (every three days) to get the rank heat out 
of it, and cause it to heat slowly and equally. This may 
be assisted by pretty hard and evenly tramping the mater- 
ial when laying it up in the bed. Once the proper man- 
agement of sawdust or shaving manure is learned, it makes 
an excellent material. In laying up the manure, choose a 
still day, as wind is pretty sure to destroy the heat. In 
preparing the manure for the bed, it is often necessary to 
add water, to bring it to a proper state of moisture, and 
one object in turning it several times in the heap is to 
promote a uniform state of moisture in the pile. If, how- 
ever, water is added, it should be warm — unless the manure 
be very hot — and given from a fine rose water-pot. 

The Presszire- All that is required in laying up is that 
the hard lumps, if any, be thrown out, and that the whole 
be laid equally, so it will settle evenly. The less firm the 
manure is laid, the faster and stronger it will heat. If 
there be too much pressure, it will heat too slowly. Hence, 
the amount of tramping is important. Our plan is to tramp 
the whole lightly, especially next the sides, three or four 
times in laying up a bed two feet thick, in addition to that 
employed with the fork in discovering if it is laid true. 
The manure all in, the surface is made perfectly smooth 
and even, and the finer manure that may not have been 
taken up on the fork is then spread evenly over the sur- 
face, and six inches of the prepared earth is thrown over 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 297 

all. If the earth is frozen, such portions should lie around 
the edges of the frame, that they may thaw gradually and 
perfectly, before the whole is finally raked smooth. 

The Soil for Hot-Beds. 



The best soil for the bed is a rich, light, sandy loam, 
to which has been added one-third of its bulk of fully 
decomposed horse manure. That formed of rotted sods is 
the best earth material. A clay soil should never be used. 
The soil must be one that will, under no circumstances, 
become pasty. Once you have formed your soil, preserve 
it carefully from year to year in a conical heap when 
removed from the beds in summer, adding, from time to 
time, such fresh soil and hot-bed manure as may be needed. 
Six inches of soil is sufficient for forcing general crops, and 
eight inches for asparagus. If rhubarb is forced, the entire 
roots are to be bedded upon three inches of earth, as 
closely together as possible, afterwards filling in so the 
crowns are just covered, packing the earth well about the 
roots. If the earth settles away from the crowns, in three 
or four days, add more. Neither of these, however, gen- 
erally pay for forcing nowadays by the market gardener; 
on the farm they may. They may be transported long 
distances from the South. When forced, a half lighted 
cellar, or the space under the staging of a green-house is 
utilized. The cellar is kept at about fifty degrees, or 
somewhat less. More than this average heat should not 
be given in the hot-bed. 

How to Have Early Rhubarb. 

The market gardener has his soil as rich as manure will 
make it. He sets out one-third of the space to be occu- 
pied by rhubarb every spring — giving him a three years' 
rotation. All the large roots not required for eyes for the 



298 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

new bed, and that are dug from the older portion of the 
oldest plantation are reserved for forcing. The farmer 
should do the same. In lieu of this a bed should certainly 
be set in the most sheltered position possible. Cover this 
in the autumn with fine manure, to be dug in the spring; 
set old barrels without heads or bottoms over the crowns 
of the plants, in the spring, and it will be found profitable. 
If you get one cent a pound for the surplus it will pay. 
Try it. 

It is to be hoped every farmer has carefully read the 
directions for planting the home orchard and garden, so as 
to economize labor, and has already made preparations to 
begin in time. Do not allow other work to prevent so 
doing. Better hire a little extra help if necessary. Cheap 
help, properly directed, can handle manure and do all the 
rough work, and any of the better class of seedsmen's cata- 
logues will direct as to sowing and general care ; but make 
rows clear across the garden, and give space enough 
between the rows to save hand labor. This is important — 
one year will give you strawberries ; two years will give 
you rhubarb ; three years asparagus, currants, gooseber- 
ries, raspberries and blackberries; three to five years will 
give you cherries and peaches and some apples and pears, 
and from that time on an abundance. 

"Take Time by the Forelock." 

Do NOT be in too great a hurry to begin in the spring, 
but when the soil is in good condition to work — that is 
when it is quite friable — lose no time. Plant peas, beets, 
carrots, parsnips, onions, salsify, radish, lettuce, etc., as 
early as the soil may be worked; corn, bush- beans, and 
other half-hardy plants as soon as danger of white frosts is 
over, and at the same time transplant from the hot-bed or 
cold frame, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, kohl-rabi ; also, 
parsley, sage, mint and other pot herbs. Squash, cucum- 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 299 

bers, melons, pole beans, okra, tomato and egg-plant should 
not go out until the nights as well as the days are warm, 
and all these should be transplanted from the troughs from 
cold frames we have named, rather than be planted by seed. 
Once the planting is done, it is simply to keep the soil 
clean and gather the produce. If you provide yourself 
with the same class of modern garden implements that you 
do with farm implements, this cultivation is neither onerous 
nor difficult. 

A plank, a leveleranda smooth- 
ing harrow will fit the garden 
nicely. A modern seed sower will 
sow any seed correctly and evenly, 
and a wheel hoe will accomplish 
the cultivation next the rows bet 
ter than it can be done with a hand cultivator. 

hand hoe, and after the plants get up a little, any good, 
one-horse cultivator will work in rows not less than two 
feet wide. 

Planting in the Moon. 




We generally plant early potatoes just as soon as the 
frost is out of the ground and the soil is settled, and for 
the general crop, as soon thereafter as convenient — always 
before corn-planting time. Why ? Because, if you do not 
get a good growth to your vines before hot and dr-y 
weather sets in, the crop is pinched. With earlier varieties 
it insures the crop ripe in August, and with late varieties, 
like peachblows, it gives them what they require, the whole 
season to grow and the cool autumn to ripen in. 

There is just this much in the moon theory, and no 
more : plants do grow faster in light nights, probably, than 
in dark ones ; and thus such plants as come up quickly, 
planted when the moon is new, may, with favorable weather, 
grow faster ; and potatoes, which are slow in germinating, 



I 

300 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER 

planted after the full of the moon, and comnia;- up when the 
nights are light, may, under favorable circumstances, seem 
to grow faster ; but that there is any difference in the out- 
come, no careful experiments made have ever shown. 

How to Raise Potatoes. 

Potatoes on the farm are too often raised in some 
corner, where nothing else can be grown, and hence most 
farmers have neither enough in quantity nor the best in 
quality. There is no crop that pays better for extra care 
than the potato. If those farmers who think they can 
better afford to buy than to plant them will try the follow- 
ing plan, they will be convinced of their mistake : Select a 
piece of land the second year from the sod, or else a piece 
of stubble land enriched with not less than forty loads of 
half-rotten manure per acre, all which has in the fall 
been plowed under to the depth of, say, eight inches. In 
the winter draw on ten more loads of fine maiyire to the 
acre ; plough this under about four inches deep, and, as 
early as the ground will work friably, harrow the land. 

Furrow out three feet apart and drop a piece every 
fifteen inches, stepping on every piece. Cover by throw- 
ing two light furrows forming a ridge. When the weeds 
appear, harrow the ground lengthwise of the rows, with a 
two-horse harrow turned upside down. If weeds again 
appear before the potatoes are up, again throw up the two 
furrows to cover, and again harrow down just as the 
potatoes appear above ground. Do not be afraid of 
killing the potatoes. We have harrowed them when they 
were three inches high. The after cultivation consists 
sirnply in slightly earthing up the plants from time to time 
with a shovel plow, until the buds appear. If weeds appear 
after that, the large ones must be pulled out by hand. 

To harvest them, if you have a large field, get a potato 
digger ; if not, plow two furrows away from each row, and 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 301 

dig the balks with a potato fork. That is about all there is 
to potato culture, except storing. 

When they are dug, put in compact piles in the field, 
cover liberally with potato tops or slough hay, and six 
inches of earth well-smoothed down to turn rain. Just 
before cold weather, take them to the cellar, or place in 
pits for the winter. 

In planting potatoes, do not delay too long. Plant 
about the time you sow oats, for unless the potatoes get 
their growth before drought and heat set in, you reduce 
the crop. Potatoes will not stand drought or heat. They 
area moisture-loving and cool-weather plant. Good crops, 
however, are sometimes raised if planted about the twen- 
tieth of June. Then they have the advantage of the late 
rains and cool nights of autumn to mature. Above all, do 
not" plant in the moon," hoping to get a superior crop. 



6?iRDGn FcewGRs kud Sbrui^s- 



The Flower Garden. 



YryHE vegetable garden is properly the province of the 
.-^ master of the farm ; the flower garden pre-emi- 
nently the home of feminine art and taste. However small 
the village or city lot, flowers may smile up from it to the 
sun, and call down blessings from the admiring passer-by 
upon the fair and skillful hands that have tended them. 
In no place do they more improve and refine the surround- 
ings, and show the beauty of feminine taste and culture, 
than upon the farm. An ample lawn studded with orna- 
mental shrubs and trees, a bed cut out here and there, or 
a smiling parterre where these lovely gifts of nature have 
been taught by care and skill to bloom, fill the soul with an 



302 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

harmonious joy. All long for the beautiful. All love 
flowers. But many, ignorantly, suppose that flowers cost so 
much in time and money that only the wealthy may enjoy 
them. They are within the easy reach of all. The com- 
mon flowers are, as a rule, as beautiful as the rarer ones. 
Perennial flowering plants, or their seeds, once planted, 
remain year after year, increasing in beauty with each 
successive season until they arrive at their full perfection. 

How to Cultivate Flowers. 



The principal mistake made in the cultivation of flowers 
is permitting them to be smothered while young, by weeds. 
Many of the common varieties, which sow themselves by 
their seeds, remaining in the ground during the winter, 

manage to make a pretty successful 
struggle with their enemies, the 
weeds, but the plants are so crowded 
as to detract much from their beauty. 
iThis is why, in the country, so much 
attention is paid to perennials, that 
is to say, the plants or flowers that 
live from year to year. If the di- 
rections here given are followed, the 
cultivation of annuals will cost less 
labor, they will come much earlier to perfection, and be, in 
every respect, better than if sown in the open ground. All 
that is necessary is to prepare, about the time field plowing 
begins, a small hot-bed, as described in the chapter on 
Vegetable Gardening. 

Having prepared the bed and put in six inches of clean, 
fine mold, sow the flower seeds in lines four inches apart 
between rows, putting down a peg marked with the name 
of each variety sown. When large enough to transplant, 
pick the plants out into another frame, place them two 
inches apart, and here let them stand until they are ready 




CALADIUM. 



GARDEN FLOWERS AND SHRUBS. 



303 



to go out of doors. Take up with earth about the roots, 
lay on trays, and they are easily and safely carried to where 
they are to grow. 

There are but few annuals that, treated in this way, 
will not transplant kindly. Sweet peas, candytuft, etc., 




CRESTED MOSS KOSES— HALP SlJiK. 



should, however, be sown where they are to stand. The 
larkspurs, poppies, mignonette, heliotrope and cypress 
vine, which are somewhat difficult to transplant, may be 
pricked out in troughs, each trough having a pasteboard, 
or other division, thrust down along the middle, to separate 
it into two parts. Plants difficult of removal may be grown 
in these simple troughs, and be quickly and easily trans- 
planted. This may be done at any time in the evening, 
unless the soil is too wet to work. If so, wait until it is dry 
enough. To transplant in dry weather, give the plants in 
the bed a good soaking the morning before transplanting 
which, as stated, had best be done at night. 



304 



THE PRArXICAI. HOME FARMER. 



Leave a little depression, water the roots, and, when the 
water has disappeared, draw the dry earth over all. They 
will hardly shrink. You will have forwarded the season of 
flowering fully three weeks, and produced your flowers, 
even of the more hardy sorts, far cheaper than if you had 
sown the seed outside. You will also be able to grow 




HVRRID TEA ROSE — LA FKANt E. 



many things usually bought as plants from the florists, such 
as verbena, pinks, daisy, pansy, etc. You may, early in 
July, have in full bloom China and other garden pinks, and 
nearly all the class that, sown outside, do not usually bloom 
until the second year. You may have balsams, candytuft, 
alyssum, mignonette, nasturtium, phlox, zinnias, morning 
glory, in splendid condition, before your neighbors who 
have sown in the open air can see theirs among the 
weeds. 



GARDFNT FLOWERS AND SHRUBS. 305 

A second crop of mignonette, candytuft, annual phlox, 
alyssum, balsams, etc., should, later, be sown inside to 
produce autumn bloom. In your hot-bed start gladiolus, 
dahlia, tigridias and other bulbs and tubers, and also such 
roots of perennials, including Bengal and other tender 
roses, as you have kept through the winter in boxes placed 
in a light cellar. 

Select List of Flowers for General Cultivation. 



The running notes below will give all the information 
necessary to the grower in addition to that already stated. 




Any respectable seed catalogue will give information as to 
special varieties. 

Ageratum. — Cuttings may be started under glass. If 
seed is sown, cover lightly; set plants six inches apart; 
nice for winter flowering in the house. 

Amaranthus. — Ornamental foliage plants; fine in 
masses, and in mixed shrubbery, borders and centers ; sow 
in hot-bed and transplant. 

AsPERULA.— Dwarf, desirable for shady situations and 
moist soil ; fine for bouquets ; plant six inches apart. 

Aster.— Showy lor borders; flowers in autumn; sow 



306 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

in cold frame ; transplant tall varieties sixteen inches apart, 
dwarf varieties seven inches apart, in good deep soil. 

Balsam. — Showy and desirable ; easily cultivated ; 
prune by pinching out the terminal buds ; sow in hot-bed, 
cold frame or window box ; transplant into a deep rich 
soil, twelve inches apart ; set dwarf sorts separate trom 
tall varieties. 

Cacalia. (Tassel Flower). — Tassel-shaped flowers 
in clusters on slender stalks ; nice for bouquets ; sow in 
cold frame ; transplant to ten inches apart. 

Calandrinia. — Sow seeds in slight hot-bed and trans- 
plant to light soil ; it flowers freely, and is perennial if 
protected in winter. 

Calendula. (Pot Marigold). — Very pretty ; flowers 
toward sunset and does not open on cloudy days ; hence 
one of its names, rainy marigold. 

Candytuft. — Fine for edging of beds and bouquets ; 
for early flowering sow seed in fall and protect during 
winter with mulch; thin plants to four inches apart in the 
spring ; it is difficult to transplant. 

Celosia. (Cocks'comb). — Start early in hot-beds or 
window-boxes, and transplant into small pots, to remain 
until the flowers begin to appear, then set out in warm 
garden soil fifteen inches apart. 

Clarkia. — Sow in March, under glass, and again later 
in the open air ; they flourish in any soil free from wet ; 
thin to a foot apart. 

Convolvulus. (Morning Glory). — There are dwarf 
and also running species, all of them handsome; they may 
be sown in the open air at corn-planting time, or earlier in 
a cold frame and transplanted. 

Dianthus. (Pinks). — Among the mostelegant of plants 
are carnation, clove pink, China pink and sweet William; 
sow in hot-bed ; transplant dwarf varieties six inches 



GARDEN FLOWERS AND SHRUBS. 



307 



apart ; tall, twelve inches apart ; if not kept too warm, they 
are good house plants. 

Delphinum. (Larkspur). — These have finely cut 
leaves and beautiful flowers of scarlet, pink, purple, blue 
and white ; double white is fine for bouquets ; sow in the 
autumn or in the spring. 

EscHSCUOLTZiA. — Showy flowers of yellow and cream 
white ; will not bear transplanting ; thin out to eight 
inches apart. 

Gaillardia. — If sown early under glass, the bloom can 
be kept up the whole summer ; the seed germinates 




PERENNIAL DAISY. 



MUSS I'INK. ( FIthx Sublata ) 



slowly ; do not transplant until all danger of frost is 
passed. 

GiLiA. — Low-growing, profuse in bloom ; the best effect 
is produced by them in masses, or in borders on rock- 
work ; the flowers are nice for bouquets ; sow in fall, and 
cover lightly during winter; thin to six inches apart. 

Lobelia. — Very pretty for baskets or vases ; sow seed 
in hot-bed or frame ; dwarf varieties are useful for borders 
or pots ; transplant six inches apart. 

Lupin. — - Hardy and easy to grow ; sow the seed in 
the open ground, where wanted to bloom ; they cannot be 
transplanted. 

Marigold. — The varieties are all showy, and produce 
fine effects in masses ; hardy, and continue in bloom the 



3o8 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



whole season ; sow seed in frame or hot-bed ; trans- 
plant two feet apart ; dwarf varieties, twelve inches apart. 

Mesembryanthemum. — Pretty plants of dwarf habit, 
fine foliage, suitable for basket or pot culture on the bor- 
der ; sow seed under grass ; transplant eight inches apart. 

Mignonette. — Delightful for its fragrance : sow under 




COUNTESS OF SERENE ROSE. 



glass, and transplant in the open air eight inches apart ; 
sow in the open ground in May for succession or late 
bloom. 

MiRABiLis. (Marvel OF Peru). — Foliage and flowers 
are beautiful. For early flowering, sow in hot-bed or box, 
or may be sown where wanted to bloom ; thin out two feet 
apart. 

Nasturtium. — Dwarf and running varieties ; the latter, 
used for hanging-baskets in winter. Dwarfs, pretty, low- 



GARDEN FLOWERS AXD SHRUBS. 3O9 

growing, profuse flowering plants. The green seeds, like 
martynia pods, are valuable for pickling. Sow in hot-bed, 
and transplant in open air eight inches apart. 

Nemophila. (Baby's Eyes). — Loveliest of blue-eyed 
flowers. They are low, hardy annuals. Sow in frames, 
transplant six inches apart; thrive best in cool, shady 
places. Seed sown in the fall will succeed well. 

Pansy. (Viola Tri-color). — Nothing prettier ; bloom, 
the first season, in June, if sown early in hot-bed and 
transplanted. Requires protection during the winter if in 
open-air beds. 

Petunia. — Indispensable, and elegant in masses; fine 
in the window garden. The seed may be sown in hot-bed 
or cold frame ; transplant eighteen inches apart ; the plants 
do not always come true from seed ; they are of every 
shade of color, and bloom from early spring until frost. 

Phlox, Drummond's. (Annual). — Among the most 
beautiful of garden flowers, and of infinite variety of colors. 
The seeds for early flowering should be sown in the hot- 
bed or the cold frame, and transplanted one foot apart, as 
too close planting produces mildew. Or plant out doors 
where wished to grow. The pretty moss pink is one of 
the perennial phloxes. 

Portulaca. — One of the most brilliant of sun-loving 
flowers ; low-growing, creeping plants, flowering abund- 
antly. Sow in hot-bed and transplant, six inches apart in' 
the open air. 

RiciNus. (Castor-Oil Bean). — Plants of green and 
purple foliage, of tropical and striking effect. A center- 
piece of ricinus, with plants of canna next, and a row of 
caladium plants outside, will form a bed truly tropical in 
effect. 

ScABiosA. (Mourning Bride). — Bright-colored, an- 
nuals, adapted for beds and for bouquets. The Germaui 
dwarf varieties are double ; sow in frame or in open border. 



3IO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Set the tall varieties fifteen inches apart, dwarf a foot 
apart. 

Stock Flowers. — Stock orgilliflower will never go out 
of favor, being abundantly fiowering, with colors running 
through all the shades of crimson, lilac, rose, white, etc. 
Rich soil is requisite to keep Stocks double ; they are 
planted in May or sown early in the hot-bed, and set out, 
twelve inches apart. The annual Virginia Stock is fine for 
edgings, but it does not transplant easily. 

Zinnia. (Youth and Old Age). — The varieties of this 




STATirfT LATIFOLIA. 



Mexican plant are magnificent in color. The flower is 
nearly as double as the dahlia, and lasts along time. Sow 
the seed under glass in early spring, and transplant to the 
open ground, when danger of frost is over. 

Everlasting Flowers and Ornamental Grasses. 



The ornamental grasses and everlasting flowers (so- 
called), that is, flowers that retain their color and shape in 
drying, are considered indispensable in all good collections. 
Among these should not be omitted panicles of oats and 
heads of other grains carefully dried, while green, in the 



GARDEN FLOWERS AND SHRUBS. 



ill 



shade, and then bleached, if desired, with the fumes of 
burning sulphur. There are many varieties of some of 
the species of everlastings mentioned. We give some of 
the better ones. These are: Acroclinium, white and red ; 
ammobium, white; gomphrena (globe amaranth), white, 
flesh-colored, pink and white, and orange; helichrysum^ 
rose, red, white, yellow and crimson ; helipterum, white 
and yellow; rodanthe, white and yellow, purple and violet. 




WINDOW GAKDEXING. 



rosy purple, etc. ; statice, yellow, blue and rose; waitzia, 
yellow; and xeranthemum, purple, light-blue and white. 

Besides these, that admirable and truly magnificent 
plant, Statice Latifolia, with its large trusses of lilac flow- 
ers, is most desirable where it is hardy. 

Ornamental Grasses. — Among the giants in this class are 
pampas grass (gynerium), not hardy in the North, and eri- 
anthus ravennae, hardy with slight covering, and fully as 
fine. The smaller ornamental grasses which we recom- 
mend are ; agrostis nebulosa, elegant, fine and feathery ; 
arundo donax, perennial, yellow striped leaves ; avena ster- 
ilis ^animated oat) ; Briza maxima, one of the best of the 



312 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



ornamentcil qrasses, also geniculata ; brizopylum siculum, 
pretty; bromus brizaeformis, perennial ; chrysurus cynosuro- 

ides (lamarckia aurea), yellow- 
ish, feathery spikes ; coix lach- 
ryma (Job's tears) ; hordeum 
jubatum (squirrel tail grass), 
fine; lagurus ovatus (hare's tail 
grass), dwarf, showy heads; 
pennisetum longistylum, very 
graceful ; stipa pennata (feather 
grass), magnificent; tricholsena 




ORNAMENTAL CKASSES. 



rosea, beautiful, rose tinted. 



Trellises. 

Trellises are of various forms and easily made by any 
one who has a little mechanical skill. Those partly of" wire 
and partly of wood are, many of them, of elegant forms, and 
are sold by all horticulturlists. When climbing plants and 
shrubs are grown at some distance from any building, some 
support must be given. Simple, strong stakes, the rugged 
stump, or even top of a tree may, with great effect, be 
covered by ampelopsis, or any of that class of runners. 
Other climbers must have trellises to conform to their habit, 
and the height of these trellises must be governed by the 
plants employed. 




G0MM8F? SeRSE IFlffiBER f HpF^SFI^S. 



The Economy of Timber. 



IN the mountain country strict legislation should prevent 
the destruction of the forests. There the rainfall 
should be soaked among the roots, and the leaves and 
twigs retained at the foot of trees, whose shade prevents 
the sun's rays reaching the ground in full force. Then the 
water flows gradually away, giving to the country perennial 
rivulets. Remove the trees and this same water forms 
torrents which sweep before them the soil, leaving the hill- 
sides bare, and, the rainfall over, the sun bakes the land 
into a desert. The rivers rise in a night from wretched 
streams, twining along through enormous beds of sand 
and silt to resistless currents bearing destruction to every- 
thing in their course. In a level country all the conditions 
are different, and in this, an agricultural work, the fair, 
arable land is all of which we consider the needs. So far 
as regards the great acreage of the lands of the United 
States the necessity for dense belts of timber is not as 
great as it has frequently been represented to be. The 
work of our horticultural and forestry societies has kept 
the people alive to the importance of the subject, although 
some of them have published assertions not borne out by 
later and more careful investigations. The writer once 
held somewhat extravagant notions which a more careful 
study of the subject did not confirm. One was upon the 
amount of forest per square mile of a country necessary to 
promote the best results in t"he cultivation of field crops. 
He finally settled upon the French standard of one-quarter 
of the area of a country. This we have modified from time 
to time until now we assert, without hesitation, that one- 



314 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

tenth of the area of a country, equally distributed over 
farms as they may be in the prairie and plains region of the 
United States, will be amply sufficient, not only for the 
uses for which timber is designed, but also to insure the 
best results in the cultivation of crops. 

What Timber Really Does foi' a Country. 



Timber, generally distributed, modifies the climate in 
that the rains are more frequent and moderate, and the 
climate is, as a rule, more humid. The sun does not create 
so great a heat during the day, the radiation is less at 
night, and hence the temperature is more equable. The 
average rainfall of a country may be the same with or with- 
out timber. With timber it will be more equally distrib- 
uted. A country may have the same average yearly 
pressure of wind with or without timber, but the probabil- 
ity is that a timbered country will be less subject to tor- 
nados, tearing every work of man from their pathway. It 
is not laborious, this planting of timber — not more so than 
the intelligent cultivation of corn. 

Do we hesitate to wait so long as we must for the 
returns of our labor ? We have to wait three and four years 
for our steers and colts to grow into usefulness, and from 
five to ten years on our orchards to pay for the labor 
bestowed on them. Five to ten years will give us poles, 
posts and firewood from our planted trees, and twenty 
years will give us timber. 

What Timber to Plant. 



To RAISE timber for profit we must plant, first, those 
varieties which enter most largely into the economy of 
civilized life — conifers, white pine, Norway spruce, Scotch 
pine, arbor vitae, and European larch ; of decidious trees, 



COMMON-SENSE TIMBER PLANTING. 315 

white ash, black walnut, sugar, silver and soft maple, and 
the hardy Western catalpa ( C. speciosa). Second : In 
planting a forest, in a prairie country, set apart a portion 
of the land for trees of rapid growth, to use before the 
slower growing species come forward. Among these rapid 
growers the cottonwoods, white and golden willow, and 
silver maple are the best. 

We have already stated, in the appropriate chapters, 
that trees should be planted to ornament the landscape and 
to shelter stock and buildings. We have no very correct 
data in this country on the growth of forests. This we 
know — that they will reach a given size in two-thirds the 
time it requires in Europe, where forestry has been sys- 
tematically carried on for many years, 

Time of Growth. — The late Dr. Warder, one of the 
fathers of forest planting in America, stated that the cop- 
pice growths in European forestry are often utilized in 
periods often or fifteen years ; in our own country, too, we 
have many trees of short rotation, and some of the most 
useful and most profitable trees are of this character. 

The black locust may be harvested after it has grown 
from twenty to thirty years. 

The catalpa speciosa in the same period will make good 
cross-ties and fence posts. 

The ailanthus very soon attains a useful size, and for 
certain purposes has been very highly commended, both 
in this country and in Europe. Prof C. S. Sargent is 
advising its extensive plantation, and some years ago it was 
spoken of as the most promising tree for the arid plains of 
the Southwest. 

The forests of Scotch pine in Germany are allowed sixty 
years to reach their useful size, for fuel and timber. 

The birch there reachdfe its maturity in about half a 
century. 

The willow, used for charcoal needed in the manufacture 



3l6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of gunpowder, may be cut after growing- twenty years, or 
even less. 

Chestnut, in its second growth, is most profitably cut 
every twenty or twenty-five years. 

The wood of the wild cherry soon reaches a profitable 
size for many purposes, though for saw-logs and lumber 
the trees should be larger. 

Many individual trees, planted by the pioneers upon the 
broad plains of Nebraska, within the (ew years the white 
men have occupied the so-called "American Desert," have 
already attained to useful size and will yield each a cord of 
fire-wood. 

Protection and Fuel. — The protection from cold winds 
afforded by groves of wood is also an economic considera- 
tion. A well-sheltered dwelling-house requires less fuel to 
warm it in cold weather than an exposed one. Animals, if 
well sheltered, need less grain and forage. Crops, too, 
are benefited by shelters. 

From ten to twenty years, varying with the rapidity of 
growth of the trees planted, is, with proper care, a suffi- 
cient time to raise a grove of timber large enough to con- 
stitute an efficient protection, and to supply wood for most 
of the purposes for which it is needed on a farm. As has 
been often said, the trees will be growing while he who 
planted them is sleeping. No man, who had grown a shel- 
ter of that sort, would have it removed for ten times the 
cost of raising it. 

For Other Uses. — The trees most suitable to plant for 
economic uses are to be noticed. Where it is desirable 
to have wood for shelter and use as speedily as possible, 
the white willow and silver maple are, perhaps, the best, as 
they are easily raised and grow rapidly. The white wil- 
low, thickly planted, produces long, straight poles, which 
are very serviceable in making fence, and will last a long 
time. It may also be made useful as a screen for planta- 



COMMON-SENSE TIMBER PLANTING. 31/ 

tions of other trees which cannot so well endure the buffets 
of unchecked winds on the naked prairie. 

The trees should be planted four feet apart each way, 
and thinned as occasion requires. The poles cut in thin- 
ning will be found useful. At eight feet apart, the larch 
will, in twelve or fifteen years, grow large enough for posts 
and railroad ties. Grown thus thickly, the tree shoots up 
perfectly straight, with small side branches, so that the 
entire trunk is available for use. Some have supposed 
that, as the American larch is commonly found in swamps, 
the European species has the same habitat. This is a mis- 
take — -it should be planted on dry ground ; it will thrive 
in rocky, barren soils ; poor, broken land suits it better 
than rich, flat prairies. 

Trees. 



Do we really estimate how pleasant a land we have — 
this prairie country — stretching away and away, like a 
vast, undulating ocean concreted by the hand of its Maker 
into firm land ; verdant with emerald slopes ; gorgeous 
with flowers, lacking only one thing to make it perfect — 
Trees. 

Do those who swelter under our torrid summers, or 
lament our arctic winters, realize that with one acre in ten 
or twenty planted in timber, how perfect this land would 
become in all that makes a fertile country? The heat oj 
summer tempered ; our winters shorn of their terrors. 
How many know that, with each farm containing its little 
forest, each home its sheltering grove, the climate would 
be modified and softened; the gardens bloom with what to 
us now are exotics ; orchards drop ripe and delicate fruits 
that now we cannot hope for ; or fields bear a wealth of 
grain that would not be laid low with devastating storm, 
torn and tangled by tornadoes, or swept away by devour- 
ing floods. All these terrors we now sometimes expe- 
rience. 



3l8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Give us, then, trees about each homestead. Is it not 
pleasant, the pictures which our best-loved poet, Bryant, 
pen-paints of the forest, where 

" The century-living crow. 
Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died 
Among their branches, till at last they stood 
As now they stand, massy, and tall, and dark, — 
Fit shrine for humble worshiper to hold 
Communion with his Maker." 

These shall be green with gladness in the spring-time ; 
glowing under the summer sun. they will shelter grateful 
heads and happy homes ; fling their banners of purple, and 
crimson, and gold, in the autumn breeze. 

If we plant forests, poets of generations who succeed 
us may sing, as the poet Hempstead has sung of those we 
are now transplanting from seeds of the Pacific slope. Of 
the great California redwoods, he says: 

" They were green when in the rushes lay and moaned the Hebrew child; 
They were growing when the granite of the pyramids was piled ; 
Green when Punic hosts at Cannx bound the victor's gory sheaves, 
And the grim and mangled Romans lay around like autumn leaves. 
From their tops the crows were calling when the streets of Rome were grass. 
And the brave Three Hundred with their bodies blocked the rocky pass; 
In their boughs the owl was hooting when upon the hill of Mars 
Paul rang out the coming judgment, pointing upward to the stars. 
Here, with loving hand transplanted, in the noonday breeze they wave. 
And by night, in silent seas of silver-arrowed moonbeams lave. " 

To enjoy the shade of trees in the West, we must plant 
them. If we would seek the shelter of the woods at 
noon -day, we must make it. Would we leave the noblest 
heritage to our children that the Western farmer can, — a 
growing grove of timber, — all that is necessary is, each 
spring, //««/ trees! plant trees! 



^■s^^FARM LAW^^xi*^ 



lipw 86^ERF^ri^G Farmers' pF^rmpiis. 



Yl jHE principles governing the law of the various States 
e-^ in relation to animals may be stated as follows: The 
farmer is responsible for the good behavior of his animals 
when beyond his care, and also for any injury or hurt done 
to persons by animals belonging to him, and known to be 
vicious, even although the person injured was a trespasser 
on the premises at the time. If you keep a vicious dog, 
and he tears a person hunting in your fields, you are liable 
in damages. If a vicious bull, ox or cow injures a person 
on your premises, you must pay the damage, even although 
the sufferer may have been a boy stealing apples from your 
orchard — but the person trespassing is also liable for his 
trespass. In fact, a person may be liable to more than 
money damage if he put a vicious animal in an enclosure 
to injure any special person who may have annoyed him by 
his trespasses across the field. A case is reported in which 
the farmer had to pay $500 for two broken ribs received 
by another in this way. 

If an animal injures a person in the open highway, either 
by assault or by frightening a horse so he shall run away, 
to the damage of the driver or occupants of a carriage, the 
owner of such animal is liable. The owner of a horse was,, 
in one case, convicted of manslaughter, because having 
turned his horse out on the road, and some children switch- 
ing him, the animal kicked one of them, causing death. 



Liability for Injury by Dogs. 

We have already said that the owner of a vicious dog 
is responsible for any injury the animal may do a person, 
even on his owner's grounds. If a dog, even in play, runs 



322 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

out into the street and frightens a horse or other animal so 
that he does injury, the owner of the dog is liable. How- 
ever good-natured a dog may be, if he turns and bites 
children, who tease him, his owner is liable. The old 
English law held that a man could have no ownership in a 
dog. This became the rule in some of our States. The 
more enlightened rule now is that a dog is property, and to 
steal a dog a crime. Hence, in some States, although a 
person may not be the owner of a dog, merely harboring 
the animal renders the harborer liable for any damage the 
dog may do. 

In States where dogs are licensed, a dog not licensed 
may be killed " whenever or wherever found." It is the 
law in some States, and should be everywhere, that a dog, 
licensed or not, if he attack a person, outside his owner's 
premises, may be killed, but your neighbor's dog has the 
right to pass peaceably over your premises, and you may 
not kill him simply for so doing. But if a dog is found 
beyond the enclosure of his owner, worrying or killing 
farm animals, he may be killed. Again, a dog may be 
killed if he haunt your premises, by day or night, to the 
disturbance of the family, either by his noise or otherwise. 
It is unnecessary to give the authorities from which these 
law-facts originally came. But by way of illustration, take 
the case of the dog, snapping and biting a boy who struck 
at him, in 124 Massachusetts, 57; and 38 Wisconsin, 300. 
The jury gave damages because they thought the boy 
acted naturally; but in 65 Illinois, 235, if it had been a 
mature man, instead of a boy, damages would not have 
been given. 

Trespassing Upon Property. 



Hunters. — One of the most common mistakes of 
gunners, trappers, etc., is that they have the right to hunt 
and fish where they please. All persons have the right to 



FARM LAW. 323 

fish in navigable streams and lakes, subject to the laws on 
fishing. In small streams and ponds, the right belongs 
solely to the owner of the adjacent land, for he owns the 
water also, until it has passed from his premises. 

Trespassing Animals. — The owner of the land has the 
right to kill trespassing animals, wild or tame, invading his 
premises to destroy his stock, and this, notwithstanding a 
law against killing wild animals, as mink, otter, etc., except 
at certain seasons. In fact, a man has a right to kill wild 
animals, especially destructive ones, upon his own land at 
any time, and all wild animals are destructive in some way 
— - even rabbits. 

Berrying, Etc. — Persons may not trespass upon the 
land of another to pick berries or other wild fruit. Custom 
does not make law. Permission must first be had in order 
to avoid the payment of damage. It would, however, be 
considered mean to molest children berrying in the woods 
or enjoying a pic-nic. Still it is best always to ask 
permission. 

Posting Notice.— ^wX. because you are annoyed by tres- 
passers you have no right to set traps, spring-guns, etc., 
to do injury, without first giving notice. It is also neces- 
sary, if you have a vicious animal on your premises, to post 
notice thereof. Some persons post the notice — " Man- 
traps and spring-guns," "Beware the dog," etc., on general 
principles, though the traps are imaginary and the dog 
innocent of harm. 

Neighbor s Fozuls. — You may not shoot, nor lay poison 
for your neighbor's fowls, which trespass and scratch up 
your garden, even though you return the fowls back upon 
your neighbor's land. If they have been poisoned by you, 
and the neighbor should eat them, it might go hard with 
you in court. So if you should injure a boy caught stealing 
fruit, you would be liable for malicious mischief. 

Injury to Stock. — You would be liable for damage to 
your neighbor's stock if you threw dangerous substances, 



324 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

as glass, bits of wire, or other trash into his field, or even 
deposited it in your own fence corners, and the fence being 
broken, the animal was injured. For instance, a cow swal- 
lowed bits of a wire fence that the owner had allowed to 
fall to pieces and get rusty. These pieces had fallen in a 
neighbor's field. A jury decided that the owner of the wire 
must pay for the cow. The same rule would follow from 
injury from trimmings of Osage orange, or other substances 
thrown in the road. 

Division Fences. 



The primary object of fences is not to protect against 
the evasion of other animals, but to keep in one's own. 
Yet, it is not lawful for you to put up a fence except it be 
entirely on your own land. Hence, when a division fence 
is to be built, if on the line, both persons join in building it, 
and it belongs jointly to them, and cannot be removed 
except by the consent of both. There must be an agree- 
ment as to which portion each person shall keep up. 

Then, if the adjoining fence-owner does not do his 
duty, and your cattle walk over his imperfect fence, he has 
no redress ; but if they stray beyond your neighbor's, upon 
the land of a third party, you are liable for the damage to 
that party, arid even if this third party has not a proper 
fence. If you turn your cattle into the highway and they 
stray upon the property of another, even though he has no 
fence, you are liable. You are equally responsible if 
persons straying through your fields let down the bars or 
leave gates open by which your cattle do injury to the 
property of another. But if one is carefully driving cattle 
along the road, and without the driver's fault they break 
away and trespass, there is no liability if driven back as 
quickly as possible ; for you have the right to drive your 
cattle along the road, though you may not lawfully turn 
them into it to shift for themselves. 



FARM LAW. 325 



Railway Fences and Trespass. 



While it is the fact that by the common and general 
law, every man is bound to restrain his stock from doing 
injury to another, the manner of restraint by a fence is due 
to the statute. Hence, unless the statute clearly requires 
it, a man need not build a fence if he has no stock to 
confine. In relation to fencing railways by the corpora- 
tions, the character of the fence is defined by law. The 
^general law requires the company to maintain a suitable 
fence along the whole line. It does not mean that the fence 
shall be the same along the whole line. It may be neces- 
sary that some portions be better and stronger than others. 
It must be suitable. 

If Stock is Killed. — Now, if the stock of a land-owner 
adjacent gain access to the track, by reason of the unsuit- 
able character of the fence, and are injured or killed, the 
company is responsible ; but if the animals stray from 
premises beyond, and find their way to the track over this 
contigious land, the railway company is not liable for 
damages. Nor would the company be liable under the 
common law for cattle straying along the public highway, 
without the care of their owner, if killed by a passing 
train on a crossing. 

Railways Running Through Farms. 

The conveyor of lands for a highway does not lose 
ownership in the lands, except as to its use for the pur- 
poses of a highway. Railway companies generally acquire 
simply the right of way, and not the absolute ownership 
of the land. The reason of this is that in the case of the 
abandonment of the highway, or the franchise of a railway 
company, the land may revert to the one who sold it, or 
the person owning the original tract at the time of the 



326 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

abandonment, unless it is expressly stipulated to the con- 
trary. But if a person gives an absolute deed, it, of course, 
would be binding. This should never be done, under any 
circumstances, because the abandonment and sale of a 
strip might cause great damage to a farm, if resold to 
other parties, and the conveyance for road purposes is 
sufficient for the railway or road commissioners. 

The exclusive rights in the trees, and vegetation on the 
surface and the minerals below belong to the conveyor, 
and not to the company who only hold the right of way. 
And if a stranger take anything belonging to the soil . 
proper therefrom, he is liable, not to the railway company, 
but to the owner of the soil ; but the owner of the land 
does not therefore have the right, as against the company, 
to enter upon and remove the turf, soil, or anything grow- 
ing thereon, or to disturb the same without the permission 
of the company, and the company have the right to cut 
down and remove whatever may be within their line, if it 
may at any time interfere with their use and operation of 
the road. No person has the right to take any property 
from the line of a railway, nor make use of the same with- 
out the permission of the company, and the person so 
doing, if it be personal property, is liable to the company 
and not to the seller of the land. 



Public Roadways. 



Roadways are made for the use of the public. Their 
right is simply the right of way or passage over the roads, 
by themselves, teams, vehicles, stock, etc. The road 
officers may use the soil, gravel, etc., of a road for repairs, 
or for transportation to some other part of the road, but 
not for their own private use. The owner of the land bor- 
dering on a road owns the soil, trees, grass, or any valu- 
able thing on or under the surface. No man has any more 



FARM LAW. 327 

right to remove anything therefrom, except the owner of 
the soil, or the properly constituted officer, than from any 
othe"r private property. Neither has any person a right to 
deposit and leave vehicles, wood, timber, or other property 
on the public road. If he does, the owner of the adjacent 
land may remove them, and, if injured or lost, the owner 
has no redress. Stock may not be stopped to feed on the 
public highway. No person may hitch a team in the high- 
way, to the detriment of trees or other property. If he 
does, the animal or animals may be removed. No one has 
the right to stand in the road to abuse another, to throw 
missies at your animals, without liability for trespass ; and 
if obscene language is used, the person using it may be 
be driven off, even by force. Fruit trees, standing in the 
road, belong to the owner of the adjacent land, and the 
fruit as well ; and a well, standing partly in a field or yard 
and partly in the road, belongs exclusively to the owner of 
the land. 



The Rights of the Public in the Eoad. 



The road is for the convenience of the public at large. 
The owner of the adjacent land has no right to obstruct it. 
He cannot use the road to deposit trash ; cannot place 
any structure, even a pig-pen, thereon, nor leave any 
vehicle standing thereon. If he does, even if not in' 
the traveled path, and a person or animal runs into them 
at night, and is injured, the owner is not only liable for 
the damages, but for obstructing the highway. The owner 
of adjacent land must place his fence entirely outside the 
road, and not half over the line. Neither can he place 
terminal posts half on his own and half on his neighbor's 
land, unless he has liberty to do so. But if the road is 
discontinued, the land reverts to him, and he can enclose it 
again as a part of his premises. 



328 ' THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Avoiding Obstructions in the Road. 

It is generally supposed that no person has the right to 
leave the road for any purpose and pass over the adjacent 
land. There are, however, occasions when he may do so. 
If deep snows have fallen, or the road is drifted so full that 
it is impassable ; if there is a washout that can not be 
passed, or if from any cause the road is absolutely impass- 
able, a traveler may have the right even to remove a fence 
and pass over fields, to a point beyond the obstruction, and 
he is not liable for trespass. But in doing this, he must be 
careful not to do unnecessary injury. For instance: A 
fence may not be broken down so as to injure it seriously ; 
it must be carefully taken down. Hence it would not be 
safe to tear down a permanent wall or destroy a living 
hedge. 

Right of Way Over Lands of Others. 



If a person be shut out from the public highway by the 
intervening lands of another, he has the right to a private 
roadway, by the most practicable route, over such inter- 
vening land to the public road. This right must be acquired 
by one of three means : 

I. The right by continued use. To acquire this right, 
the roadway must have been peaceably used for a period 
of fifteen or twenty years; that is, continuously or regu- 
larly, and under a claim to this right of use ; but this right 
extends only to a definite road and for the definite purpose 
of passing directly to and from the public road. No per- 
son should attempt to acquire this right by use simply to 
avoid paying a just compensation. To gain this right it is 
not necessary that one person should have traveled, but 
successive owners, if there have been such within the pre- 
scribed period. It is not peaceably used if done under 
protest, however long the use be continued ; and the right, 



FARM LAW. 329 

once acquired, if for a specific purpose, as hauling wood or 
other commodity from another lot, the right ceases when 
this specific use no longer continues. 

2. If you sell all your land fronting the highway, 
retaining that lying away therefrom, you reserve the right 
to pass to and from your new home to the public road. So, 
if you sell to another that portion away from the road, the 
law gives him the right to cross your land to the road, if 
he be otherwise cut off. It makes no difference whether 
the right of way is stipulated in the deed or not. Yet, it is 
proper in every case to have the whole clearly stipulated. 

3. The other way, and the proper one, is to buy your 
right of way, and no sensible man would object to granting 
it in this way. The difficulty in this case generally arises 
in dissensions as to the price. In such a case common 
sense and humanity would dictate that no advantage be 
taken on either side — both should make all reasonable 
concessions. 

However the: right to a private road may be acquired, 
you have no rights outside the line of the road. The seller, 
in the absence of any stipulation to the contrary, has the 
right to put in suitable gates, or bars, at the entrance and 
exit. And if the bars are left down by the person who 
acquires the road, or by his family, servants, or visitors, he 
is liable for all damage resulting therefrom, either by him- 
self, family, servants, or visitors. 

Liability of the Farmer for His Servants. 



The liability of the farmer for the acts of his workmen 
is more onerous than is generally supposed. It might not 
be thought that if a horse be driven by one's hired man, 
and the horse cast a shoe, which flies and breaks a window, 
the owner of the team would be liable ; but it is true that 
he is liable. So you would have to pay for the damage 
done by your team running away, if damage is done. It 



330 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

was a large bill that a gentleman had to pay whose coach- 
man allowed his team to run away and crush through a 
plate glass window, and into a jewelry store filled with 
costly articles. 

If you lend a servant a team, and with it give him an 
order to execute, and he gets drunk, or from other prevent- 
able cause allows the team to do injury, you are liable. But 
if he borrows a team simply for his own pleasure, and com- 
mits injury, you are not liable. If your hired man injures 
himself through your negligence, you are responsible to 
him. 

If you, or your hired man, by your orders, set fire to 
brush or trash on your own field, and the fire damages 
another, you are liable. So you are if you set him to 
chopping, and he accidentally chops down or into trees 
beyond your land line. In short, you are liable for any act 
of injury by your hired man in the performance of some- 
thing you have set him to do. Therefore, never hire a man 
who gets drunk, and to set him a good example, never get 
drunk yourself. Under this head, however, the line is so 
closely drawn as to liability or not, that instead of depend- 
ing upon general rules, in most cases it is better to consult 
a lawyer. 



Rights Relating to Water and Drainage. 



There are certain cases where one person may flow 
another person's land, as in the case of the mill owner, 
etc. It is a franchise that has been paid for. You may do 
what you please with your water, so long as it does not 
flow back upon the land of another. If it does, and the 
privilege has not been paid for, he may take down so much 
of the dam as will relieve his land from the overflow. This 
flooding is often done innocently, from ignorance of the 
extent to which the back-water will rise. 



FARM LAW. 331 

If a Stream has become obstructed by drift-wood, etc., 
below, so that the water backs upon your land, you may 
remove this natural obstruction, leaving the material on 
the bank. This, however, does not apply to surface water 
accumulated by heavy rains. But water is no longer 
surface-water after it has been gathered into an natural or 
artificial channel. Surface-water originating on one's own 
land, the owner may detain it if he can. 

Against an overflow by floods, a person has the right 
to embank, even to the detriment of his neighbor. His 
neighbor is at liberty to do the same, but it is not permis- 
sible to place impediments in the bed of the stream, to the 
detriment of another. Spring-water and underground 
water belongs to the soil. Your neighbor may have a well 
fed by springs on your land. You may cut the source of 
these springs and convey the water where you please. So 
long as it remains on your own land he has no redress. 

You have no right to turn your drainage water onto 
your neighbor's land ; but the same rule works here as in 
the acquirement of private roadways. 

Liability of Dealers. 



The adulteration of every article of use or sale, and 
frauds in contracts, etc., are growing evils. So far as con- 
tracts are concerned, unless the farmer is able to under- 
stand them, to be assured that they are correct, or cannot 
be separated into parts for his discomfiture, he should have 
nothing to do with them without first consulting his lawyer, 
to know that they are all right. Trust no stranger in any 
event. Beware of lightning-rod peddlers, jockeys, and con- 
fidence men generally, who want to make you rich in a 
trade. Sign no contracts for anything for future delivery, 
unless the men are known to your bankers as solvent, and 
especially sign no paper that may have a double meaning. 
The liability of a dealer will compel him to make good 



332 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

any deficiency. If you buy grain or other seeds, of a given 
name, they must be true to name. If expressly warranted 
pure and fresh, the dealer is not only liable for the purity 
of the seed; but if they fail to grow, or turn out something 
else, the dealer is not only liable for the value of the seeds, 
but for whatever loss the farmer or gardener may have 
suffered from these causes. Seedsmen intend to be honest 
as a rule. They sometimes make mistakes. If so, the inno- 
cent purchaser does not have to stand the loss, but the 
seedsman or dealer. 

Hiring Help.— Specific Wages. 



If a man or woman is hired without specific agreement 
as to wages, he or she is entitled to the current price of 
that particular labor. If a laborer hires for a specific time, 
and quits before the expiration of that time, even though 
he may have been hired at so much per month for that time, 
he cannot recover any of the money from the master. But 
if the farmer has paid him money on account from time to 
time, or has given him a note or notes in lieu of money, the 
farmer cannot recover this. But if the farmer voluntarily 
discharge the laborer, his wages must be paid. 

If a laborer hire for a specific time at a fixed price and 
works, say until that season when wages may be much 
higher per day or month than the price agreed on per day 
or month for the whole time, and then quits, the master can 
recover this extra amount for the remainder of the time, 
and the laborer can not set off the value of the work already 
done. So if a man or firm be hired to do a specific work 
at a specific price, as digging a well, building a wall or a 
house, and leaves it unfinished, without good excuse, he is 
entitled to nothing. 

If a laborer has good cause for refusing longer to work, 
he may do so, and the master must pay for the work 
actually done. Sickness of the laborer, a dangerous 



FARM LAW. 333 

epidemic in the family or neighborhood, improper treatment, 
bad food, etc., are valid causes for quitting. If the laborer 
is arrested and imprisoned for crime, it is no bar to his 
receiving pay for the work already done. As to what con- 
stitutes cause for quitting, outside of those mentioned, and 
in fact when litigation settles the matter, it- must be deter- 
mined by the jury. 

If another person entice your workmen away before his 
legal time has expired, you have recourse upon the person 
enticing the man. The law would hold that he who 
interferes with another man's business must pay all the 
damage accruing from the inconvenience, and if done mali- 
ciously this might add special damage ; but one person 
may offer inducements for a man to leave an employer 
where the person was only working from day to day, or 
when his time had expired. 

What is a Farm? 



A FARM is any considerable piece of land, described, by 
metes and bounds, by monuments, blazed and distinctly 
marked trees. Government or other surveyor's stakes, 
properly recorded. The extent of a farm is determined by 
the length of the boundary lines, by visible objects of those 
that may be found, and those visible monuments, trees, 
rocks, sticks or stones, naturally or artificially placed. 
These control all other agents. When described by mete's 
and bounds, the number of acres wrongly stated in the 
deed would give no cause for redress, even though they 
were far less than stated in the deed, or even thousfh the 
seller fraudulently overstated the number of acres. 

In buying a farm, if the seller overstate, even fraudu- 
lently, how much grass it will carry, how much stock it will 
pasture, or how much wood it will go to the acre, the buyer 
has no redress. But if, with a view to selling, he should 
fraudulently state that the farm had produced a specific 



334 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

quantity of any article in a year, knowing it to be false, he 
would be liable to an action at law, so very close is the line 
drawn between mere talk and actionable talk. 

A man may have a farm to-day and none to-morrow. 
If a stream carry away a part of or all of his farm, the loss 
lies with himself, although he may know where his farm is 
deposited. It thereafter belongs to the man fortunate 
enough to acquire the accretion, so long as it remains. 

When a farm is bounded by a stream, the owner's right 
goes to the middle of the current, not always to the middle 
of the water. This should be remembered in determining 
what islands in a stream belong to one or to his opposite 
neighbor. If the land is bounded by a large lake, navigable 
river, bay or gulf, his rights extend only to low water mark. 
Farther, his rights are merely those common to all. But 
in tide waters, there may be flats, in this case it will de- 
pend upon his deed in its accuracy whether he owns to high 
or low water mark. 

If a boundary line runs to a specific object, as a tree, 
rock, fence, etc., it runs to the middle of the object, unless 
specifically stated otherwise. If so, examine the record, 
to know that the next man actually owns up to your line; 
in fact, in buying any piece of property in which a deed, or 
other contract passes, it is well for your lawyer to pass on 
its merits. As a rule, the fee for such a service will be well 
invested. ' 

Getting a Free Tarm. 



All public lands are virtually open to free settlement, 
the fees under the Homestead, Timber Culture and Desert 
Land acts being light. At public land sales the price 
ranges from one dollar and twenty-five cents to one dollar 
and fifty cents per acre, but the best of these lands are 
always gobbled up by railways and syndicates, and they 
often wrongfully dispossess the poor settler. But this need 



FARM LAW. 335 

not be if the man knows his rights and asserts them. 
Formerly pre-emption was the only means of acquiring 
title by actual settlement. Then the settler had to prove 
title and also pay one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre 
when the land was placed in the market. It is still a 
favorite means by which speculators secure water privileges, 
and valuable tracts of timber land, by means of fraudulent 
affidavits. They also pre-empt water fronts under the 
Desert act, and often by armed mob-force drive off actual 
settlers. Colonies of actual settlers may command respect 
from these pirates by organized force. 



The Public Land System. 



A COMPLETE and condensed compilation of the principal 
means by which public lands may be secured, brought 
down to the year 1883, is given below. To get a clear 
understanding of this it must be remembered that the 
public lands are surveyed into a series of lines of town- 
ships running north and south, each township consisting of 
thirty-six sections of 640 acres, or one square mile, each. 
The area of a township is, therefore, 23,040 acres. Each 
line of townships is called a range, the ranges being 
numbered from east to west, and the townships north and 
south. Each section is divided into quarters of 160 acres 
each, and these again divided into quarters of forty acres" 
each. The public lands are divided into two great classes, 
the minimum price of one class being one dollar and 
twenty-five cents per acre, and of the other two dollars 
and fifty cents per acre. The latter class consists mainly 
of alternate sections reserved by the Government in land- 
grants to railroads. Public lands are not now placed in 
the market subject to purchase for cash, the general policy 
of the Government being to hold the lands for actual 
settlement only. The principal laws under which titles 



336 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

can be perfected are the "Homestead," "Pre-emption," 
and "Timber-Culture" acts. 

Pre-emption, Homestead and Timber-Culture Acts. 

Under the Pre-emption law the settler must pay the 
Government price for the land. The maximum amount of 
each grant is i6o acres. To secure this the claimant must 
first become a resident of the land — by claim-shanty or 
otherwise — and within three months after settlement must 
file a declaratory statement of the facts at the nearest land 
office. For this filing he pays two dollars. He must reside 
on the land for at least six months, and within thirty-three 
months from the date of settlement he must submit final 
proof of actual residence and improvement, and pay for 
the land — two dollars and fifty cents or one dollar and 
twenty-five cents per acre, according to class. Any time 
before the thirty-three months expire the settler may 
convert his claim into a homestead by payment of the 
homestead fees. 

The Homestead Law. 



Under the Homestead law any citizen or intending 
citizen, of either sex, over the age of twenty-one, single or 
the head of a family, may obtain i6o acres of public land 
free by five years' actual settlement and residence thereon. 
The only payments the settler is required to make are the 
land office, patent, and commission fees, amounting alto- 
gether to about twenty- six dollars, of which sum eighteen 
dollars is paid at the time of entry and eight dollars at the 
end of five years when the title is perfected. Until last 
year the settler was allowed only eighty acres of the two- 
and-a-half dollars land, or land within the railroad limit, 
but the law has been so amended that 160 acres can now 
be secured. Soldiers and sailors who served during the 
war are allowed to deduct the time of such service — not 



FARM LAW. 337 

exceeding four years — from the five years' residence 
required before completion of title — a privilege which 
extends to widows or minor orphan children of all those 
who if alive could claim this allowance. After six months' 
actual residence and cultivation, the settler has power to 
prove up and purchase the- land at the Government price, 
instead of residing thereon the remaining four and one- 
half years required to complete his title. This is what is 
known as commuting an entry. Under this act, therefore, 
any man, however poor, may become the owner of a farm 
of 1 60 acres for twenty-six dollars — a farm which at the 
end of five years should be worth at least $1,000. Special 
provision has been made for people who have been unfor- 
tunate in business, or burdened with debt, 'who wish to 
start anew, this act expressly providing that "no lands 
obtained under the provisions of this chapter shall in any 
event become liable to the satisfaction of any debts con- 
tracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor." 
According to recent rulings under this law a man and 
woman, each having a homestead entry, may pool their 
rights by marrying without invalidating either claim. 
Lands entered under this law are exempt from taxation 
until title has been completed. One person cannot relin- 
quish a claim to another ; relinquished lands reveut to the 
Government. A single woman's rights are unaffected by 
marriage — so far as this act is concerned — provided the 
requirements of the law are complied with. A married 
woman making an entry, who has been deserted by her 
husband, will, upon final proof, receive the patent in her 
own name, notwithstanding the husband's return. 

The Timber-Culture Act. 



Under the Timber-Culture act actual residence is not 
required, and the same amount — 160 acres — can be 
secured. The party making an entry is required to break 



338 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

or plow at least five acres the first year and five more the 
second year. The first five acres are to be cultivated dur- 
ing the second year, and planted with timber seeds or 
cuttings during the third year. The second five acres are 
to be cultivated the third year, and similarly planted the 
fourth year. Not less than 2,700 trees, seeds or cuttings 
must be planted on each acre, and at the time of final proof 
there shall be growing not less than 675 living and thrifty 
trees to each of the ten acres. A tree crop, if destroyed 
one year, must be replanted the next. At the expiration 
of eight years from entry, final proof can be made and 
patent obtained. The fees are fourteen dollars at time of 
entry and four dollars at final proof. This land is exempt 
from taxation or execution for eight years. 



Land Taken Under the Three Acts. 



Under these three acts, any qualified applicant may 
obtain 480 acres of land at a nominal cost. A person can- 
not file under the homestead and pre-emption laws at the 
same time, actual residence being necessary in each case, 
but is at liberty to enter a pre-emption and tree-culture 
claim together, and after proving up on the pre-emption by 
six months residence or longer, may take a homestead, and 
thereby get possession of the 480 acres within a year of his 
first settlement. Every son and daughter over twenty-one 
can do the same. A pre-emption settler may mortgage his 
land to pay the Government price for it. A pre-emption 
claim cannot follow a homestead and tree-culture claim, as 
persons already holding 320 acres of land are barred from 
the privileges of the pre-emption act. Where the Govern- 
ment alone is concerned, the laws will be liberally con- 
strued ; but where adverse rights are involved, a strict 
construction of the statutes is necessary. 



FARM LAW. 339 



The Desert Land Act. 

There is, however, another land act, under which large 
areas have been sometimes taken, and actual settlers ousted 
through terrorism. It was intended to be beneficent, and 
might be so under proper restrictions. This act is applic- 
able to all lands, exclusive of timber and mineral lands, 
which will not produce an agricultural crop without irriga- 
tion. This act is taken advantage of principally in the far 
West Territories, where there are large areas of arid land 
requiring irrigation to make them productive. Under this 
act, a person may obtain one section — -640 acres — of 
desert land at $1.25 per acre by three years' irrigation — 
twenty-five cents per acre to be paid at time of entry, and 
the remainder of one dollar per acre on final proof at the 
end of three years. Actual residence is not required. 

Under these laws, an immense number of fraudulent 
land entries have been, and are being made, the Land- 
Office Commissioner being comparatively powerless to 
enforce the law or investigate complaints. The work of 
the General Land-Office being limited by the size of the 
Congressional appropriations, it has been found impossible 
to inquire into a tithe of the alleged frauds, and the ground- 
work for a p^reat structure of future litio-ation is now beino- 
laid out. Great quantities of valuable coal and iron lands, 
forests of timber, and the available agricultural lands in 
whole regions of grazing country have been monopolized 
by persons who have caused fraudulent pre-emption and 
commuted homestead entries to be made by their agents 
and employes, and the Commissioner, in his latest report, 
states his inability to stop this, owing to the limited facili- 
ties of the Land-Office. He strongly recommends the repeal 
of the pre-emption law, on the ground that it is being 
largely made a shield for fraudulent entries, and that the 
passage of the homestead law leaves it unnecessary. 



340 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Formerly, the pre-emption system afforded the only means 
by which settlers could acquire title to homes on the public 
domain, but, with the passage of the homestead act and 
the recent supplemental legislation, which placed home- 
steaders on an equal footing with pre-emptors, the special 
utility of the pre-emption law for bona-fide settlers has 
wholly ceased. 

Lands Yet Open to Settlement. 



The bulk of the land yet open to settlement is either 
mountain land, desert land, or the vast areas in the far 
Northwest, including Alaska, much of it inhospitable for 
cultivation. Alaska alone comprises about 370,000,000 
acres. The tide of immigration is now settling into Da- 
kota, Minnesota, and the farther valley lands of the North- 
west. Dakota alone contains 150,000 square miles (a 
square mile contains 640 acres), two-thirds of which is 
unsurveyed, and with much desert land and mountain land 
at the West. The term desert lands with us means land 
requiring irrigation, but often naturally producing grass. 
The Northwest mountain valley lands are also of vast 
extent. Government surveys are progressing at the rate 
of about 50,000,000 acres per annum, or nearly 1,000,000 
acres per week. The total area of public lands surveyed 
in the several States and Territories from the commence- 
ment of surveying operations by the Government until the 
end of the fiscal year 1882 was 831,725,863 acres. The 
estimated area unsurveyed is about 983,000,000 acres, 
figures too vast to be appreciable except by comparison. 

Needed Reforms in Farm Law. 



The laws relating to agriculture, taking agriculture in 
its broad sense, form no small part of the general statutes 
of a nation. The day is probably not far distant when the 



FARM I-AW. 341 

people will demand a simplification of our laws generally, 
by which unnecessary verbiage may be expunged: i. That 
they may be simplified to conform to fundamental princi- 
ples, so that any man of average comprehension may 
understand the nature of any particular law. 2. To do 
away with the practice of brow-beating, intimidation, and 
badgering of witnesses, by which they are made to say 
what they do not mean; and to simplify pleadings, by 
which facts only shall be kept in view. It is true that such 
is the general purpose of law, and under the rulings of the 
judge, much that we have mentioned as desirable may be 
accomplished ; but cannot always be done even if the judge 
desires. So many abuses have crept into our courts that 
the covering up of facts, and special pleas of counsel on 
either side, often so befog a jury that, notwithstanding the 
charge of the judge, they often find it impossible to elim- 
inate from their minds that which has speciously been 
instilled by the pleaders. The more carefully trained mind 
could not follow and retain speech after speech, each one 
of a week's duration, presenting the most diverse argu- 
ments for and against, and sift the true from the false. 




Frsi fl^B SfiME lipws. 



Maine. 



The penalty is one dollar for taking larks, robins, 
partridges, woodpeckers, or sparrows, between March ist 
and July ist; and ten dollars to the owner of lands, with 
the liquidation of all damage suffered for any trespass 
committed, between March ist and September ist, in hunt- 
ing or killing the birds named. 

New Hampshire. 



The law prescribes a fine of one dollar for killing, 
taking, or having in possession, at any season of the year, 
any robin, thrush, lark, bluebird, oriole, sparrow, martin, 
woodpecker, bob-o-link, yellowbird, linnet, flycatcher ; or 
warbler, or rail, yellowleg, or sandpiper, between March 
1st and August ist. The fine is three dollars for each 
snipe, woodcock, or plover, between March ist and August 
1st; or for each partridge, or grouse, or quail, between 
March ist and September ist. One dollar additional is 
assessed for each bird, if taken in defiance of a published 
notice by the owner of the land — one-half for the use of 
the complainant, and the other half to the town or city. 
The action of the law may be suspended for one year, at 
any time, by a vote of a town or city, so far as relates to 
such town or city. 

Vermont. 



The law makes the fine one dollar in each case for 
taking, wounding, or killing, or for the destruction of the 
nest or eggs of the robin, bluebird, yellowbird, cherry or 



34a 



FISH AND GAME LAWS. 343 

cedar bird, catbird, kingbird, sparrow, lark, bob-o-link, 
thrush, chickadee, pewee, wren, warbler, woodpecker, 
martin, swallow, night-hawk, whippoorwill, groundbird, 
linnet, plover, phoebe, bunting, hummingbird, tattler, and 
creeper. 

Massachusetts. 



In this State, the penalty is two dollars each for killing, 
at any time, robins, thrushes, linnets, sparrows, bluebirds, 
bob-o-links, yellowbirds, woodpeckers, or warblers ; the 
same for killing birds on salt marshes, the owner excepted ; 
five dollars for killing partridges or quail between March 
1st and September ist ; woodcock, between March istand 
July 4th ; five dollars for trapping or snaring any birds at 
any time, save partridges ; twenty dollars for killing grouse 
or heath-hen at any time, and ten dollars to the owner of 
the grounds, and a search-warrant authorized for any one 
suspected of the offense ; and twenty dollars for hunting 
deer with hounds or dogs in Plymouth or Barnstable coun- 
ties. There is a fine of one dollar for killing between 
sunset and one hour before sunrise, any plover, curlew, 
dough-bird or chicken-bird. Any city or town may vote 
to suspend, within its limits, any of the provisions of this 
law. 

Rhode Island. 



In this State there is a penalty of two dollars in each 
case for killing, destroying, selling, buying, or having in 
possession, any lark, robin, wood duck, gray duck, or black 
duck, between February ist and September ist ; or quail, 
partridge, or woodcock, between January ist and Septem- 
ber 20th; snipe, between May ist and September 20th; 
grass plover, between February istand August ist ; grouse, 
or heath-hen, between January ist and November ist ; and 
swallow, or box-martin, between May ist and October ist ; 



344 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

twenty dollars in each case for killing woodcock between 
January ist and July ist. In addition, five dollars may be 
imposed, to be paid to the owner of the land, for the first 
offense, and ten dollars for the second offense, besides a 
liability to damage for trespass. Action must be brought 
within three months. 

Connecticut. 



The law in Connecticut provides a fine of three dollars 
for killing, selling, or possessing, or destroying a nest of 
eggs of woodcocks between the first day of February and 
the first day of July ; pheasants, partridges or ruffed 
grouse, between the first day of February and the first day 
of September ; quails of any species, between the first day 
of February and the first day of October; wood-duck, 
widgeon, black, gray, broad-bill, canvas-back or teal 
duck. 

The fine is one dollar lor killing, or trapping, a nightin- 
gale, bluebird, Baltimore oriole, finch, thrush, lark, spar- 
row, catbird, wren, martin, swallow, or woodpecker, at any 
time, or a robin or bob-o-link, between the ist of February 
and the ist of September. 

The taking of brook or lake trout between September 
1st and January ist, is fined one dollar. It is also forbidden, 
under a penalty of ten dollars, to take pheasants, partridges, 
or quails, on the land of any other person. 

New York. 



The laws relating to game have been frequently modi- 
fied, and now are probably among the best, in a general 
way. Insectivorous and other birds are protected between 
February ist and October. The fine is placed at five dol- 
lars for each woodcock, between January ist and July 4th ; 
ruffed grouse, between January 1st and September ist; 



FISH AND GAME LAWS. 345 

quail, between January ist and October 20th ; wood, black, 
gray, and teal duck, between February ist and August ist 
(excepting upon the shores of Long Island). It is forbidden 
to catch quail or ruffed grouse with a snare at any time ; 
and it is unlawful to take prairie fowl within ten years, 
under penalty often dollars for each one killed or taken. 

Five dollars each is the penalty for taking trout between 
September ist and March ist. A penalty is incurred of 
one hundred dollars and damages for putting lime or drugs 
in any lake, pond, or stream, by which fish maybe injured. 
Owners of dams,- if two feet or more in height, on the trib- 
utaries of Lake Ontario, Champlain, or the river St. Law- 
rence, are required to provide a sluice at an inclination of 
not more than thirty degrees, suitably constructed and 
protected, as a passage-way for fish. 

Deer are prohibited game from February 15th to August 
1st, in all counties except Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, 
Jefferson, Lewis, Herkimer, Hamilton, Essex, Warren, ' 
Fulton and Saratoga (where the prohibition is taken off 
only in October), and in Kings, Queens, and Suffolk, where 
November is the only month for their pursuit. 

For fishing, except with hook or line, in certain interior 
lakes, the fine is twenty-five dollars. A similar penalty 
attaches to trespass in fishing, after public notice has been 
given. 

Pennsylvania- 



In this State it is forbidden, under penalty of two dol- 
lars, to trap, kill, or shoot any bluebird, swallow, martin, 
or other insectivorous bird, at any season of the year, and 
the same penalty attaches to the destruction of eggs or 
nests of any of the birds mentioned in law. A fine of 
five dollars is laid for killing rail or reed birds between 
June 1st and September ist; pheasant, between February 
1st and August ist; woodcock, between February ist and 



346 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

July 4th; partridge or rabbit, between February ist and 
October ist, and a similar penalty is incurred by buying 
these birds out of season to sell out of the State. 



New Jersey. 



A FINE of five dollars each is imposed for killing any 
partridge, water-fowl, grouse, quail, or rabbit, between 
January ist and November ist, or woodcock between 
January ist and July 5th ; to be recovered with cost of 
suit, and in default of payment imprisonment for sixty days 
may be adjudged. 

A penalty of fifteen dollars is laid for placing decoys for 
geese, ducks or brant, at a distance of more than three 
rods from ice, marsh, meadow bank or sand-bar, or for 
hunting them with a light at night ; and it is made unlawful 
to kill geese, ducks or brant, between April 15th and 
October 15th, in or about the waters of Barnegat bay or 
Manasquon river. 

The fine is five dollars each for killing geese, ducks or 
brant, between April ist and December first, at Cape May. 
A trespass, after having been once forbidden to enter 
lands, renders one liable to a fine of three dollars. 



Delaware. 



It is unlawful for non-residents to catch or kill any wild 
goose, duck, or other wild fowl, under a penalty of not 
less than fifty and not more than one hundred dollars. 
Citizens do not rest under this prohibition. The plan of 
procedure in prosecution is set forth so that any boat, gun, 
or decoy, used in violation of this law, may be seized and 
confiscated, and the penalty for resisting an officer is fixed 
at one hundred dollars. 

The law does not prohibit persons from killing game 



FISH AND GAME LAWS. 347 

on their own premises, but it is unlawful for others to kill 
a partridge, pheasant, robin, or rabbit, between February 
1st and October 15th (in New Castle County, between 
January ist and October 15th); woodcock, between Feb- 
ruary 1st and July ist. The penalty is one dollar for each 
bird killed. A person not a citizen of the State, gunning 
upon land not his own, without permission of the owner, 
is liable to a fine of five dollars for each bird or other game. 
The penalty of hunting or killing deer is two dollars, 

Ohio. 



In this State the penalty is from two to ten dollars, for 
killing insectivorous birds, or disturbing their nests. The 
same penalty is incurred for killing, between February ist 
and 15th, any dove, wild rabbit, or hare, yellow-hammer, 
or flicker. From five to fifteen dollars may be imposed for 
killing wild turkey, quail, ruffed grouse, prairie chickens, 
or wild deer, between April 15th and September ist; 
woodcock, between February ist and July 4th, and wood 
duck, teal, or other wild duck, between May ist and Sep- 
tember 15th. Exposing for sale or having in possession, 
incurs the same penalties, and the costs of prosecution are 
in all cases to be paid by the offender. 



Michigan. 



The penalty for killing small birds in Michigan is fixed 
at five dollars each, and for wild turkey, partridge, or ruffed 
grouse, between February ist and September ist; for 
woodcock, between March ist and July ist; prairie chicken 
or wild duck, goose, or swan, between February ist and 
August 15th; for quail, from January ist to October ist. 
It is made unlawful to destroy nest or eggs. The fines go 
to the school library fund. Indians and the inhabitants of 



348 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the upper peninsula are exempt from the effect of these 
provisions. 

IIHnois has no general bird law. In a portion of the 
counties it is made unlawful to hunt or kill deer, turkey, 
and grouse, prairie hen, or quail, between January 15th 
August 15th. 

Wisconsin. 



Five dollars is tne penalty for killing grouse or prairie 
chicken between December ist and August 12th; or 
partridge, ruffed grouse, or quail, between December ist 
and the first Tuesday of September. It is unlawful to kill 
or take woodcock in Iowa between the ist of January and 
ist of July ; prairie hen or chicken, between ist of 
January and ist of August; or quail, ruffed grouse, 
pheasant, wild turkey, or deer, between the ist of January 
and 1st of September. 

Minnesota. 



In this State the penalty is five dollars each for killing 
at any time a whippoorwill, nighthawk, bluebird, finch, 
thrush, lark, linnet, sparrow, wren, martin, swallow, bob-o- 
link, robin, turtle dove, catbird, or other birds ; five dollars 
for each woodcock, from January ist to July 4th; par- 
tridge, or ruffed grouse, between January ist and Sep- 
tember 1st; ten dollars for trespass in sporting; twenty- 
five dollars for killing each deer, elk, or fawn, or having the 
skin of one in possession between January ist and August 
ist. A fine of five dollars is also imposed for each 
speckled trout taken, except in Lake Superior, Mississippi, 
Minnesota, St. Croix and Root rivers. 



Qarne [^avws in 0ld and Jilew) gtates. 



It will be seen that in the newer States the laws do not 
cover so wide a scope as in the older ones. In other 
words, laws are not made until the necessity arises : first, 
for protecting insectivorous birds, then game birds, and, 
lastly, fish and four-footed game. On the other hand, in 
comparatively unsettled regions, bounties are given for the 
destruction of wild beasts. Sooner or later, however, it 
becomes necessary to enact and enforce laws for the pres- 
ervation of birds beneficial to the farmer, and a careful 
comparison of the laws of several States will enable 
farmers to suggest to legislators what animals should be 
protected and what destroyed. 

California's Experience 



In California it is only within the last few years that 
anything has been done for the preservation of birds. The 
State began to be overrun with insects injurious to vege- 
tation. Then the people began to move in relation to the 
protection of insectivorous birds ; but some birds, at cer- 
tain seasons of the year, when insects are scarce, will eat 
fruit. 

Clamor Against Useful Birds. 



The thrush family, including the mocking-bird, robin, 
etc., will eat fruit. Some ignorant fruit-growers clamor 
against them. Some ignorant farmers clamor against the 
crows and all that class of birds, because they pull corn; 
against owls and hawks, because, when they have exter- 
minated mice and other vermin, they pick up a chicken 



3SO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

once in awhile; against the skunk for the same reason; 
against the prairie-chicken and quail because they cat 
grain ; against birds in general, forgetting that they pay 
ten-fold for all they eat, in the destruction of insects. Then 
there is a clamor for the Legislature to do something, for 
entomologists, and for means for destroying insects, after 
they themselves have caused the destruction of birds. Even 
the English sparrow, which is a general scavenger, and, 
like the bob -o-link, likes green grain, in common with the 
sparrow tribe in general. Yet the English sparrow, and 
others of his ilk, largely live in winter on the eggr, of 
insects, when they can find them, thus nipping the insect 
evil "in the bud." The bob-o-link has been known to save 
a cotton -field from destruction by insects, but he likes 
young rice. 



l^awjs Relating to Dogs. 



Most men like a dog. It is natural, for however worth- 
less a dog may be in general, his master is his god, and if 
there is anything the average man likes, it is to be wor- 
shiped. Then, again, dogs are clever to children, and 
therefore children like them. Yet ninety-nine dogs out of 
a hundred are practically worthless, at least for the pur- 
pose for which dogs are generally kept on a farm — to 
watch property: First, for want of proper training, and 
second, from mixing up all known breeds together. If 
dogs, like other animals, were kept for a specific purpose, 
all difficulty might be avoided, and the sheep-owner would 
not suffer from the depredations of worthless curs ; the 
poultry-yard would not be decimated by bastard "fice," 
nor cattle worried or harried by the low-down yellow dog, 
with just enough bull-mastiff in him to Intensify the savage 



LAWS RELATING TO DOGS. 351 

propensities in these brutes, added to the sneaking disposi- 
tion to run away in time to save their hides from the shot- 
gun ; and this brings us to dog laws. 

Massachusetts. 



The law relating to dogs in Massachusetts is, in the 
main, one of the best in the country. There dogs are taxed 
from two to five dollars each ; owners are made respon- 
sible, under heavy penalty, for their registry and taxation ; 
assessors must make accurate lists, and evasions of the 
listing are heavily fined ; refusal or neglect of officers to 
execute the law incurs a penalty of one hundred dollars ; 
and untaxed dogs are killed without mercy, and district 
attorneys are required to prosecute officers who neglect to 
destroy them. 

Many of the older States, of late years, have so 
amended their dog laws that a very little agitation would 
cause them to be made perfect. 

Maine. 



In this State the law is a good one, if carried out ; but 
a saving clause, by which a township may nullify the law 
within the township, makes it worse than useless. Without 
the savhig clause it would provide as follows : Dogs inflict- 
ing damage subject their owners to fines of double the 
amount of the damage done, to be recovered by an action 
of trespass. Any person may lawfully kill a dog that 
assaults himself or other person while walking or riding 
peaceably, or is found worrying, wounding, or killing any 
domestic animal. Any person finding a dog strolling out 
of the inclosure of his owner may, within forty-eight hours, 
make oath before a magistrate that he suspects such dog 
to be dangerous or mischievous, and notify the owner by 



352 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

giving him a copy of the oath ; and if the dog shall be found 
again at large, he may be lawfully killed; and if he shall 
thereafter wound a person or kill a domestic animal, the 
owner shall be liable to treble damages and costs. 

New Hampshire. 



In New Hampshire the amended law of 1863 provides 
that double the amount of damage by dogs shall be recover- 
able from the owner by an action of debt; or a complaint 
may be made to the selectmen of towns, who are required, 
upon proof made within thirty days, to draw an order upon 
the treasury, which is registered and made payable, in 
whole or in part, from the fund accruing from the dog tax, 
on the second Tuesday of March annually. 

Vermont. 



The law of Vermont is good enough for those who own 
dogs, since the owner is liable for damage done in any 
State under the organic law, it is good enough for sheep 
owners. The law is as follows: 

The listers in several towns in this State shall in each 
year set all dogs in their respective towns in the grand lists 
to the owner or keeper of the same at the sum of one dollar 
each ; and no person shall be entitled to have the amount 
so assessed deducted from their lists inconsequence of any 
debts owing. 

Every owner or keeper of a dog shall, when called upon 
by the listers for their lists, notify them of the dogs by him 
owned or kept ; and every owner or keeper of a dog who 
shall neglect or refuse to notify the listers as aforesaid, 
shall forfeit and pay to the town in which he resides the 
sum of two dollars, to be recovered in an action on the case 
in the name of the treasurer of such town, before any court 
competent to try the same, with full costs. 



LAWS RELATING TO DOGS. 353 

It is hereby made the duty of the owner or keeper of a 
dog, whether set in the lists or not, to cause a collar, with 
the name of the owner or keeper plainly written thereon, 
to be worn on the neck of each dog by him owned or kept ; 
and it shall be lawful for any person to kill any dog running 
at large off the premises of the owner or keeper not having 
on such collar ; and the owner or keeper of such dog shall 
recover no damage for such killing. 



Rhode Island. 



By the law of i860, a dog might be killed with impunity 
if found without a collar bearing his owner's initials, or 
worrying or wounding sheep or other stock out of the 
enclosure of his owner. Any person might make oath 
to any case of injury, or to the special ill-fame of any 
particular whelp, and if the allegation was sustained, the 
dog must be confined, or the life of the animal was for- 
feited. A late amendment requires dogs to be collared, 
registered, numbered, described and licensed, with the 
payment of one dollar and fifteen cents for each male, and 
five dollars and fifteen cents for each female doe, before 
the last day of April, and one dollar additional for each 
dog after that date, and previous to the first of June. 
Any person keeping a dog contrary to the provisions of 
the law is liable to a fine of ten dollars. 



New York. 



The laws, as amended by that of 1862, impose a tax of 
fifty cents for the first dog, two dollars for each additional ; 
three dollars for the first female dog, and five dollars for 
each additional. The assessors are required to annex to 
the assessment roll the names of persons liable, and super' 



354 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

visors must return them, when, if faihire of paying tlie tax 
occurs, it becomes the duty of the collector, and the 
privilege of any other man, to kill the dog. The collector 
has a commission of ten per cent, on fines, and one dollar 
for each dog killed. The previous enactment provided 
that the owner of dogs killing sheep should be liable for 
injuries perpetrated ; and in case the owner should not be 
found, the loss should be paid out of the fund arising from 
the doe tax. 



t> 



Pennsylvania. 



The laws of this State seem to have had for their 
object to hold the dogs to good behavior. Dogs may kill 
sheep, but not the second time : but the owner is liable, if 
he knows the dog has killed sheep. It is to be hoped that 
the State has either expunged the law altogether or sensibly 
amended it. 

Indiana. 



A license is required, at fifty cents for the first male 
dog, one dollar for each additional dog, and one dollar in 
every case for a female dog. All unlicensed dogs are de- 
clared nuisances, and may be lawfully killed. Accruing 
funds aresetapartforthepayment of damages suffered from 
injuries to sheep in the several townships. The sufferer has 
his option of the following remedies : Within ten days after 
having knowledge of'such depredations, he may substan- 
tiate it to the satisfaction of the township trustee, and draw 
the amount at the end of the current year, or a pro rata 
proportion, if the fund is deficient ; or he may recover, by 
suit, full damages from the owner of the dog. A fine of 
from five to fifty dollars, and liability to damages, recover- 
able by the owner, are the penalties for killing licensed 
dotjs that maintain a fair canine character. 



LAWS RELATING TO DOGS. 35 5 

Ohio. 

The scions of this State, unless the law has been 
amended, simply contented themselves with politely inform- 
ing dogs that they should not run at large at night. The 
owners were held to no proper responsibility for their re- 
straint. It is to be hoped that this great agricultural 
State will move in the proper direction. We, however, 
have not seen anything indicating that a general law has 
been enacted for proper protection against dogs. Yet, we 
suppose the farmers are still left their natural protection 
against marauding dogs — the shot-gun. 

Delaware. 



Tins State has had carefully-considered dog laws since 
1811. The old laws are Repealed, but the better features 
are contained in the new law. The owner of a dog which 
shall kill, wound, or worry a sheep or lamb, shall be liable 
to pay the owner of such sheep or lamb the full value 
thereof, and it shall be lawful for any person to kill such 
dog. It shall be lawful for any person to kill any dog 
running at large in Newcastle County, beyond the owner's 
premises, without a collar upon his neck with the owner's 
name upon it. The law of 1862 requires an assessment 
list, of persons owning dogs, to be returned to the levy 
court. The tax is placed at fifty cents for each male, and 
one dollar for each additional dog, and two dollars for 
each female dog, which shall procure the fund from which 
damages shall be paid, not to exceed three dollars for 
each lamb, and five dollars for each sheep injured or killed, 
the remainder, if any, to go into the school fu id. A dog 
not on the assessment list, which may be wandering, or 
caught worrying sheep, may be killed. Persons paying 
taxes upon dogs are deemed to have property therein, and 
may recover damages for theft of or mjury to such dogs. 



356 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Michigan. 



In this. State, since 1850, the law authorizes the destruc- 
tion of dogs attacking any kind of domestic animals, except 
on the premises of the owner of the dog, and such owner 
is liable for double the amount of damage done by the dog. 
When notified of such damage, neglect of the owner to kill 
the dog is punishable by a fine of three dollars, and one 
dollar and fifty cents additional for every forty-eight hours 
thereafter, until such dog shall be killed. Supervisors, 
upon complaint of a citizen, verified by his oath, are re- 
quired to prosecute and recover the fines imposed by this 
act. An act was passed March 20, 1863, requiring town- 
ship assessors to ascertain the number of dogs liable to be 
taxed, and the names of their owners; and if such owners 
refuse for ten days after demand to pay the taxes assessed, 
it becomes lawful to kill the dogs so taxed. 



Wisconsin. 



By the law of i860, dogs are required to be numbered, 
collared, registered and licensed on payment of one dollar 
for males and three dollars for females ; and police officers, 
constables and marshals are required to kill and bury all 
unregistered dogs, and to receive twenty-five cents for such 
service. A person may be fined fifty dollars for removing 
a collar. Persons suffering loss from dogs are paid full 
damages at the first of April, if the tax fund is sufficient; 
if not, pro rata; and the owner of the dog is liable to the 
town for the full amount. The fine for keeping unregistered 
dogs is five dollars. Officers neglecting or refusing to 
obey the law, are fined twenty dollars for every twenty-four 
hours of such neglect. Towns may increase the license not 
more than one dollar, and the penalty not more than ten. 



LAWS RELATING TO DOGS. 357 



Minnesota. 



This State early recognizing- the fact that dogs should 
be held as amenable to the law as their masters, or rather 
that the masters should be so for them, enacted a law, in 
substance as follows: Every owner or keeper of a dog 
shall cause such dog to be registered, numbered, described, 
and licensed, paying one dollar for each male and two 
dollars for each female. The township or city clerk shall 
conspicuously post a list of all licensed dogs, and furnish 
one to constables and chief of police. Failure to license 
shall make one liable to a penalty of ten dollars. Stealing 
or poisoning a dog is punishable by a fine not exceeding 
fifty dollars, and killing subjects to a liability for damages 
double the value of the dog. Constables and police officers 
shall and any person may, kill any unlicensed dog ; any one 
may also kill a dog assaulting him, or worrying sheep out 
of the enclosure of his owner. Within thirty days after 
suffering injury or loss of sheep by dogs, proof of damages 
may be presented to the county auditor, who may draw an 
order upon the treasurer, payable from the fund accruing 
from taxes of dogs, when the city or town may sue and 
recover full damages from the owner of the dog. It is 
made the duty of the mayor and aldermen of cities, and 
the supervisors of towns, to require the destruction of 
unlicensed dogs, and officers refusing or neglecting to- 
perform these duties are liable to a fine of twenty-five dol- 
lars, for the benefit of schools. All of these penalties may 
be recovered, on complaint by any householder, before any 
justice of the peace of the county. Money remaining after 
the yearly payments from the tax fund is turned over to the 
school fund. 



StocI^ and Astray jjOvus. 



Almost every State has stock laws of some kind, differ- 
ing principally in relation to stock running at large. In 
some States, the law leaves it optional with counties or 
districts, to decide whether fences shall or shall not be 
maintained. If not, stock of all kinds must be kept on the 
owner's premises. 



Estrays. 



In some cases, there is only fencing against cattle and 
horses ; or, sheep and swine must be kept close. So far 
as laws in relation to estrays are concerned, they do not 
differ in essential respects. If an animal is found running 
at large, in violation of law, it may be taken up and 
impounded, where public pounds have been provided ; or 
it may be held by the person taking up, on his own 
premises. If the owner is known, notice must be given 
him at once ; if unknown, the animal must be advertised 
for a specified time ; and no owner making claim, it must 
be sold to the highest bidder. The person taking up an 
estray is entitled to a reasonable compensation for main- 
tainine the beast. In some States, after a certain time, the 
estray becomes the property of the person taking it up, 
the prescribed legal notice having been given. When an 
animal is found doing damage on the land of another, the 
fences being constructed according to law, it may be held 
as security for damages. In all cases where the owner is 
known, he must be notified of the facts, and a reasonable 

time allowed him to reclaim and to inspect damages. 

358 



StocI^ Ciaws of the Hew England States. 



Maine and New Hampshire. 



In Maine and New Hampshire, towns may make by- 
laws concerning the running of animals at large. The 
laws of Maine provide that persons injured by beasts may 
sue for damages, and distrain the animal. New Hampshire 
allows the owner of stock impounded for doing damage 
four days to respond to notice of the fact ; and if he fails 
to answer, the animals may be sold and the amount of the 
damage be deducted from the proceeds. 



Vermont. 



In Vermont, twenty days are allowed for redemption. 
Ungelded animals are not allowed to run at large. Rams 
must be restrained from August first to December first, 
and be marked with the initials of the owner's name ; 
and if found at large, a forfeit of five dollars is due for 
each one taken up, to the person so taking up. The 
owner of such animals is responsible for the damage done 
by them. The infected with foot-rot or scab, must be dili- 
gently restrained, and for all damage resulting from neglect 
of this provision, the owner is responsible, and is also sub- 
ject to a fine of ten dollars. Any person finding such 
diseased animals at large may take them as forfeit, and no 
action at law or in equity will lie for their recovery. Any 
person who shall drive, or in any manner bring into the 
State, any neat cattle, knowing them, or any of them, to 
have the pleuro-pneumonia, or to have been exposed to 
that disease, is liable to a forfeit of a sum not over five 



36o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

hundred dollars, or to imprisonment in a county jail for not 
more than twelve months, nor less than one month. Towns 
may establish regulations, appoint officers or agents, and 
raise and appropriate money for the purpose of preventing 
and arresting the spread of pleuro-pneumonia. 



]\Iassachusetts. 



In this State it is provided that when a person is 
injured in his crops or other property by sheep, swine, 
horses, mules, or neat cattle, he may recover damages in 
an action of tort, against the owner of the beasts, or by 
distraining the beasts doing the damage ; but if it be found 
that the beasts were lawfully on the adjoining lands, and 
escaped therefrom in consequence of the neglect of the 
person who suffered the damage to maintain his part of 
the division fence, the owner of the beasts shall not be 
liable for such damages. 

The laws of this State in relation to pleuro-pneumonia 
are very strict, and are made more and more so from time 
to time. The selectmen of towns, and the mayor and 
aldermen of cities, in case of the existence of pleuro-pneu- 
monia, or any other contagious disease among cattle, shall 
cause the infected animals, or those exposed to infection, 
to be secured in some suitable place or places, and kept 
isolated, the expense of keeping to be paid, one-fifth by 
the city or town, and four-fifths by the State. They may 
prohibit the departure of cattle from any enclosure, or 
exclude them therefrom ; may make rules in writing to reg- 
ulate or prohibit the passage of any neat cattle to or 
through their respective cities or towns, or from place to 
place, and arrest and detain them at the cost of the owners. 
They are authorized to brand infected animals, or those 
exposed to infection, with the letter P on the rump. For 
selling an animal so branded, there is liability to fine not 



STOCK LAWS OF THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 361 

exceeding $500, or imprisonment not exceeding one year. 
Notice of any suspicion of the existence of contagious dis- 
ease must be given, with a penalty for neglect or refusal. 
A board of commissioners is appointed for the State, with 
authority to use any measure to control the introduction of 
diseased cattle into the State, or the spread of the disease. 
The rules and regulations made by this board supersede 
those of the selectmen of towns, and mayor and aldermen 
of cities. The movinsf of cattle into other States without 
permission is prohibited. 

The law of 1867 provides that no cattle diseased, or 
suspected of being diseased, shall be killed, except by order 
of the governor. The owners of cattle ordered to be killed 
are indemnified. 

Rhode Island. 



In Rhode Island, animals trespassing on lands are held 
a year and a day; and if a horse, must have a withe kept 
about his neck during that time. Each town is required to 
erect and maintain at its own charge one or more public 
pounds, and it is lawful for any freeholder or qualified 
elector or field driver, and it is made the duty of every sur- 
veyor of highways, to take up and impound any horse, neat 
cattle, sheep, or hogs, found at large on any highway or 
common. Provisions of the act extend also to goats and 
geese. In i860, in view of the dangerous disease which" 
had become prevalent in other States, the General Assembly 
enacted that neat cattle might only be brought into the 
State from places west of the Connecticut river, upon thor- 
oughfares leading into the western and southern portions 
of the State, under regulations established by a board of 
commissioners, until they should prohibit importations from 
any of said places. For a violation of the provisions of the 
act, penalty was provided, not exceeding $300 for each 
offense, and liability to indictment, and, on conviction, 



362 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

imprisonment not exceeding one year. In case of the intro- 
duction of a number of diseased cattle at tlie same time, 
the introduction of each animal is to be deemed a separate 
and distinct offense. 

Town councils ar empowered to take all necessary 
measures to prevent the breaking out or spreading of any 
infectious diseases among the neat cattle in their respective 
towns, and to prescribe penalties in money, not exceeding 
five hundred dollars. A board of commissioners is pro- 
vided for, to be appointed by the Governor, consisting of 
one person from each county, to see that the law is faith- 
fully executed. It is made the especial duty of the board 
to endeavor to obtain full information in relation to the dis- 
ease known as pleuro-pneumonia, and to publish and 
circulate the same, at their discretion ; and in case the dis- 
ease should break out, or there should be reasonable 
suspicion of its existence in any town, they are required to 
examine the several cases and publish the result of their 
examination, in order that the public may have correct 
information. If satisfied of its existence in any town, they 
must give public notice of the fact in printed handbills, 
posted up ; and, thereafter, any incorporated company or 
person, who may drive, carry, or transport any neat cattle 
out of the town into any other town in the State, is liable 
to the penalties above stated. Any person who sells, or 
offers to sell, any cattle known to be infected with pleuro- 
pneumonia, or with any disease dangerous to public health, 
is liable to indictment, and, on conviction, to punishment 
by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment 
not exceeding two years. The act of March 26, 1864, 
provides that any person knowingly bringing into the State 
any neat cattle or other animal suffering from any infectious 
disease, or who knowingly exposes such cattle or other 
animal to other cattle and animals not infected with such 
disease, shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of not less than 
one hundred dollars, and not exceeding five hundred 
dollars. 



STOCK LAWS OF THE MIDDLE STATES. 363 

Connecticut. 



In this State, the law allows owners of sheep to keep 
flocks in common, and to make their own rules and regula- 
tions concerning their care and safety. No horses, asses, 
mules, neat cattle, sheep, swine, or geese, are allowed to 
go at large in any highway or common, or to roam at large 
for the purpose of being kept or pastured on the highway 
or commons, either with or without a keeper. Any person 
may seize and take into his custody and possession any 
animal which may be trespassing upon his premises, pro- 
vided the animal enters from the highway, or through a 
fence belonging to the owner of the animal, or through a 
lawful fence belonging to any other person. He must give 
immediate notice to the owner, if known, and may demand 
for every horse, mule, ass, ox, cow, or calf, twenty-five 
cents ; and for every sheep, goat, goose, or swine, ten cents ; 
together with just damages for injuries occasioned by 
such animals, if applied for within twenty-four hours after 
such notice shall have been given. If the owner is not 
known, the animal shall be sold by the town clerk, after due 
public notice. 



StocI^ Caws of the TVl'ddle States. 



New York. 



The laws of all the States east of the Alle^hanies 
have, of late years, been very strict and carefully drawn in 
relation to animals liable to infection with contagious 
diseases, and are framed generally after those of Massa- 
chusetts, where the first case of pleura-pneumonia occurred. 
In relation to the general laws for stock, the laws of New 



364 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

York allow any person to seize and take into his custody 
any animal which may be in any public highway, and oppo- 
site to land owned or occupied by him, or which may be 
trespassing upon his premises. Notice must be given to 
a justice of the peace, or a commissioner of highways of 
the town in which the seizure has been made, who shall 
post up notices in six public places, that the animal will be 
sold in not less than fifteen nor more than thirty days. 
The surplus money, after payment of all charges, is subject 
to the order of the owner for one year. The owner, 
before sale, may pay all charges and take the animal. If 
the animal has been trespassing by the willful act of 
another than the owner, to effect that object, the owner is 
entitled to the animal upon making demand, after paying 
the compensation fixed by the justice or commissioner, 
but no other costs; and the person committing such will- 
ful act will be held liable to a penalty of twenty dollars. 



New Jersey. 



Town committees, upon notice of the existence of any 
disease supposed to be contagious, are required personally 
to examine the cause, and if the symptoms which charac- 
terize contagious diseases are exhibited, shall cause such 
animals to be removed and kept separate and apart from 
other cattle and stock, five hundred feet distant from any 
highway, and the same distance from any and all neigh- 
bors. If any die of the disease, or are killed, they must 
be buried immediately, five hundred feet distant, etc., as 
above. No cattle that have been sick, and have recovered 
from any supposed contagious or infectious disease, shall 
mix with other cattle, or be removed, unless permission 
has been given by the town committee. Any person 
knowingly storing a hide, or any other portion of diseased 
animal, is subject to a fine. The town committee are 



STOCK LAWS OF THE MIDDLE STATES. 365 

authorized to prohibit the importation or passage of cattle 
from other places into or through their respective towns. 
After notice of prohibition, owners are liable to a fine of 
one hundred dollars for every animal driven into a township. 
A fine of one hundred dollars is imposed for every animal sold 
and known to be diseased. The act of 1866 authorizes the 
Agricultural Society of the State to take measures for 
preventing the introduction or increase of rinderpest, and 
any other disease among cattle, at their discretion ; animals 
affected with glanders are authorized to be killed. Cattle 
must not be marked by cropping both ears; nor must 
either ear be cropped more than one inch. 

Pennsylvania. 



The running of cattle at large is controlled in Pennsyl- 
vania by towns and counties, through special legislation. 
The sale of cattle or sheep affected with pleuro-pneumonia, 
or any other contagious or infectious disease, is punished 
by a fine not exceeding $500, or imprisonment not exceed- 
ing six months. Animals must not be sold alive from, or 
slaughtered on, premises where disease is known to exist, 
nor for a period of two months after disease shall have 
disappeared from the premises. Cattle and sheep are not 
allowed to run at large where any contagious disease pre- 
vails. Constables of townships are required to take up 
and confine any animals so found, until all costs are paid. 

Delaware. 



In Delaware cattle are forbidden to run at large in 
certain districts. Stallions over eighteen months old are 
not permitted to be at large. 



gtocl^ I^avws of the goutbern gtates. 



Maryland. 



In this State it is provided that any person aggrieved 
by trespass upon his premises of any cattle, hogs or sheep 
in the possession or care of a non-resident, may impound 
them, and have the damages sustained by the trespass, 
vahied on oath by two disinterested citizens of his county, 
and the animals may be sold for the damages and costs. 



Virginia. 



In this State, if any horses, cattle, hogs, sheep or goats 
enter into any grounds inclosed by a lawful fence, the 
owner or manager may be liable to the owner of the 
ground for all damages ; and, for every succeeding tres- 
pass by such animals the owner shall be liable for double 
damages ; and, after having given at least five days' notice 
to the owner of the animals of the fact of two previous 
trespasses, the aggrieved party shall be entitled to the 
animals if again found trespassing on the same lands. 
Horses diseased and unaltered, are not allowed to be at 
large. Every person shall so restrain his distempered 
cattle, or such as are under his care, that they may not go 
at large off the land to which they belong ; and no person 
shall drive any distempered cattle into or through the 
State, or from one part of it to another, unless it be to 
remove them from one piece of ground to another of the 
same owner ; and when any such cattle die, the owner 
thereof, or person having them in charge, shall cause them 
to be buried (with their hides on) four feet deep. Any 

justice, upon proof before him that any cattle are going at 

366 



STOCK LAWS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 367 

largfe, or are driven in or through his county or corpora- 
tion, in violation of law, may direct the owner to impound 
them ; and if he fail to do so, or suffer them to escape 
before obtaining a certificate that they may be removed 
with safety, they shall, by order of the justice, be killed 
and buried four feet deep (with their hides on), but so cut 
that no one may be tempted to dig them up. For the pro- 
tection of sheep, special laws have been passed, taxing 
dogs in certain counties, and for their restraint in those 
counties. 

Georgia. 



If any trespass or damage is committed by stock in the 
State of Georgia on any lands not protected by lawful 
fences, the owner of the animal is not liable to answer for 
trespass ; and if the owner of the premises should kill or 
injure the animal in any manner, he is liable in three times 
the damages. When fences are made pursuant to law, and 
any animal breaks in, the owner of the inclosure shall not 
kill or injure him for the first breaking, and not until after 
notice is given to the agent or owner, if possible, but the 
owner shall be liable for double the damage done by his 
stock. 

The Carolinas. 



In North Carolina, if cattle are driven from one part of" 
the State to another, they must be certified to be healthy, 
sound, and free from any infectious distemper ; the grant- 
ing of such certificate by any justice, without affidavit, is a 
misdemeanor in office. Stallions and mules over two years 
old are not allowed to go at large, under a penalty of 
twenty dollars. Damages for injury done by trespassing 
animals are recoverable as in other States. 

In South Carolina, horses, cattle, hogs, sheep or goats 
breaking into any field having a crop of any kind growing 



368 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

or ungathered, with a lawful fence, may be seized and kept 
confined until notice is given to the owner, within twenty- 
four hours of the seizure, who shall be bound to pay the 
owner of such field fifty cents a head for each horse or mule, 
and twenty-five cents for every head of cattle, hogs, etc., 
before he is entitled to have the animal delivered up to 
him. For the second breaking, within one month after the 
first, the owner is liable to the person injured for all damages 
sustained, in addition to the fine. Full satisfaction lies for 
injuring any animal found in any field where the fence is 
not a lawful one. 

Florida. 



In many Southern States what constitutes a lawful fence 
is stated with the utmost minuteness, as to height, spaces, 
etc. In Florida there can be no trespass or damage if the 
fence is not a lawful one ; nor in such case can stakes, canes, 
or other devices to maim or kill cattle, sheep, swine, etc., 
be used, under a penalty of ten dollars for each offense, and 
full damages. Marks upon stock are required. 

Texas. 



No neat cattle belonging to non-residents are allowed 
to be taken into Texas for grazing or herding purposes, 
under pain of forfeiture to the county into which they shall 
have been so taken. Severe penalties for altering the 
brands of animals are provided in that State. 

Mississippi. 



In this State it is provided that every owner of cattle, 
horses, mules, hogs, sheep or goats shall be liable for all 
injuries and trespasses committed by breaking into grounds 
inclosed by legal fence. If any person, whose fence is not 



STOCK LAWS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 369 

a lawful one, shall hurt, wound, lame or kill, by shooting 
or hunting with dogs, or otherwise, any cattle, etc., that 
may have broken into his inclosure, he shall pay the owner 
double damages. A ranger is elected in each county to 
attend specially to estrays, of which he is required to keep 
a record. When any person finds horses, mules, jacks, 
cattle, sheep or hogs straying upon his land, he may take 
them up and forthwith send them to the owner, if known ; 
if unknown, he must give notice to the ranger, or some 
justice of the peace. The owner of all estrays appraised 
at ten dollars and not exceeding twenty dollars, is allowed 
six months, and if less than ten dollars, three months, from 
the date of certificate of appraisement, to claim and prove 
his property. It is not lawful for any drover or other 
person to drive any horses, mules, cattle, hogs or ^heep of 
another from the range to which they belong ; but it is 
made his duty if any such stock join his, to halt immedi- 
ately at the nearest pen, or some other convenient place, 
and separate such stock as does not belong to him or to the 
person by whom he may be employed. For neglect, a 
forfeit of twenty dollars for every offense is provided, and 
liability to all damages. Any person may confine and geld 
any stallions that are above the age of two years, found 
running at large, at the risk of the owner, but this will 
not apply to stallions usually kept up, or to those which 
accidentally escape. Any animal addicted to fence-break- 
ing may be taken up by owner of land, who may recover 
seventy-five cents a day for keeping, provided owner has 
been notified, if known ; but condition of fence may be 
shown in mitigation of damages. Double damages may 
be recovered for injury to animals where fence is not a 
lawful one. Defacing or altering marks of animals subjects 
to a penalty of imprisonment in the penitentiary for not 
more than three years, or fine of not more than $500, and 
imprisonment in county jail for not more than one year, or 
both. 



370 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Alabama. 



Any person is allowed to take up any horse, mare, jack, 
neat cattle, hog or sheep found running- at large, if the 
owner is unknown. If any stallion or jackass over two 
years of age is found at large, it must be taken before a 
justice, who shall cause it to be advertised. The taker-up 
is entitled to five dollars from the owner, and reasonable 
compensation for keeping. If such stallion or jackass is 
not claimed within three months, it may be gelded. 

Arkansas. 

If 5ny horse, cattle, or other stock break into_ any 
inclosure, the fence being of the required height and 
sufficiency, the owner of the animal shall, for the first 
offense, make reparation for true damages ; for the second 
offense, double damages ; and for the third, the party 
injured may kill the trespassing beasts, without being 
answerable. If any stallion or jack over two years old is 
found running at large, the owner maybe fined two dollars 
for the first offense, and ten dollars for each subsequent 
offense, and is liable for all damages that may be sustained. 
Any person may take up such animal, and, if not claimed 
within two days, may castrate, and recover three dollars 
for doing so ; but the life of the animal must not be endan- 
gered. If any such animal cannot be taken up, he may be 
killed, if notice be first put up at the court-house, and at 
three other of the most public places in the county for ten 
days, accurately describing the animals. In Tennessee, 
stallions and asses over fifteen months old are not allowed 
to run at large under penalty to the owner of not less than 
five dollars, or more than twenty-five dollars. The animal 
may be taken before the nearest justice of the peace, who 
shall give public notice. If not claimed within three 



STOCK LAWS OF THE WESTERN STATES. 37 1 

months the animal may be gelded at the risk and expense 
of the owner. The party taking him up is entitled to five 
dollars and reasonable expenses for keeping. 

Kentucky. 

Breachy and mischievous bulls may be taken up and 
altered ; a jack or stallion may be gelded if found at large, 
allowing the owner, if known, at the rate of twenty-five 
miles a day to reach the place where the animal is held, and 
recover the animal; when the owner is not known, the 
animal is dealt with as an estray, and may be ordered by 
a justice to be gelded. If the owner of any distempered 
cattle permits them to run at large, or drives them through 
any part of the State, he is liable to a fine of ten dollars 
for each head; and if any die the owner must cause them 
to be buried, subject to a penalty of five dollars for 
neoflect in each case. 



StocI^ [^aws of the \^estern States. 



Of late years more or less has been clone in the several 
States west to prevent the introduction of animals with 
infectious, and especially contagious diseases, since the out- 
break of pleuro-pneumonia in the Eastern States. Illinois 
has a State veterinarian whose duty it is to prevent any 
diseased cattle entering the State, and the State veterina- 
rian has now a general jurisdiction over diseased stock 
since the outbreak of glanders, and may condemn and 
cause to be killed horses found with this horrible disease. 
Congress has passed a general quarantine law for imported 
live stock, and the Cattle Commission of the United States 
have the supervision of them. 



372 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



West Virginia. 



There is no law in force in West Virginia to prevent 
cattle from running- at large ; but if they break into an 
inclosure and destroy any grain or crops, the owner is 
liable ; provided the fence is a lawful one. A law exists to 
prevent diseased sheep from traveling on the highway. 



Ohio. 

It is unlawful in the State of Ohio for any one to sell, 
barter or dispose of, or permit to run at large, any horse, 
cattle, sheep, or other domestic animal, knowing them to 
be infected with contagious or infectious disease, or to 
have them indirectly exposed thereto, unless he first duly 
informs the party to whom he may sell as to the facts. 
The fine for so doing is not less than twenty dollars nor 
more than two hundred dollars, with costs, or confinement 
in the county jail not more than thirty days. For allowing 
infected animals to come in contact with animals belonging 
to another, a fine is provided of not less than fifty dollars 
nor more than five hundred dollars, with costs of prosecu- 
tion, or confinement in the county jail not less than ten nor 
more than fifty days. If any horse, mule, ass, or any neat 
cattle, hogs, sheep, or goats, running at large, break into 
or enter an inclosure other than inclosures of railroads, the 
owner is liable for all damages, and the animal so breaking 
into or entering an inclosure is not exempted from execu- 
tion issued on any judgment or decree rendered by any 
court. For allowing any such animal to run at large in any 
public highway, or upon any uninclosed land, or for herd- 
ing any of them for the purpose of grazing on premises 
other than those owned or occupied by the owner or keeper 
of the animals, the party offending is liable, for every vio- 
lation, to a fine of not less than one dollar nor more than 



STOCK LAWS OF THE WESTERN STATES. 373 

five dollars. But a general permission may be granted by 
the commissioners of any county for certain animals to run 
at large, and in counties where there is no such general 
permission, township trustees may grant special permits, 
such general and special permits terminating on the first 
Monday of March of each year ; and special permits are 
revocable at the discretion of the trustees, upon three 
days' notice in writing to the owner of animals. Special 
permits must be directed to individuals, and for particular 
animals described therein. The owner of trespassing ani- 
mals is liable for all damages upon premises of another, 
without reference to the fence which may inclose the 
premises. Any person may take up and confine an animal 
found at large contrary to law, and the owner may reclaim 
the same within ten days. The fees are as follows : For 
taking up and advertising each horse or mule, one dollar ; 
neat cattle, seventy-five cents each ; swine, fifty cents each ; 
sheep or geese, twenty-five cents each ; and reasonable 
pay for keeping the same. It is unlawful for the owner or 
keepers of any animals knowingly to permit them to enter 
the inclosure of any railroad, or, having entered, to remain 
therein ; or to lead or drive any such animals within the 
inclosure, or along or upon the track of any railroad, at 
any other place than a regular street, road or farm crossing 
or way. 

Illinois. 

In Illinois, as In a number of other Western States, 
counties or townships may define by vote whether they will 
have fences or not, and how much. The owner of animals 
breaking through a legal fence is liable to full damages for 
the first trespass, and to double damages for any subsequent 
trespass. Where the fence is insufficient, and the land 
owner injures or destroys animals, he is answerable in 
damages. Stallions over one year old are not permitted to 



374 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

run at large ; but if so found may be gelded, if the owner 
does not reclaim them, one day for every fifteen miles' dis- 
tance of the animal from home being allowed, after notice. 
Diseased horses, mules and asses must be kept within the 
owner's inclosure, under penalty of twenty dollars damages. 
Estray hogs must be sold from November first to March 
first. To convey any Te.xas or Cherokee cattle into the 
State between the first day of October and the first day of 
March renders the party so doing lia'ole to a fine not 
exceeding two thousand dollars, nor less than five hundred 
dollars, and imprisonment at the discretion of the court. 
Any and all fines are paid into the county treasury, subject 
to the order of the board of supervisors, or county court, 
for the purpose of being divided pro rata among persons 
who may have suffered damage or loss on account of any 
such Texas or Cherokee cattle. All persons or corpora- 
tions are liable to injured parties for any damage arising 
from the introduction, by any of them, of any diseased 
cattle. It is made the duty of any circuit or county judge, 
or justice of the peace, upon oath of any householder, set- 
ting forth that Texas or Cherokee cattle are spreading 
disease among the native cattle, to forthwith issue a warrant 
to any sheriff or constable of the county, commanding him 
to arrest and impound such cattle, and keep them by them- 
selves until the first day of October following. Texas and 
Cherokee cattle are defined to mean a class or kind of 
cattle, without reference to the place from which they may 
have come. In Indiana, laws regulating the running at 
large of stock are local in their application, county boards 
designating what animals may or may not run at large. 
However, when any animal is found at large contrary to 
local law, and has been taken up, the owner may reclaim it 
within ten days, after which time the animal may be sold. 
The laws of the State are in effect prohibitory against 
bringing in diseased cattle, and it is the duty of the State 
veterinarian to see that the law is enforced. 



STOCK LAWS OF THE WESTERN STATES. 375 



Missouri. 



The State of Missouri has created a board of cattle 
inspectors to prevent the spread of the Texas or Spanish 
fever. The county court of each county is authorized to 
appoint three competent persons to act as a board for the 
inspection of cattle supposed to be distempered or affected 
with the disease known as the Texas or Spanish fever. 
They may stop any drove of cattle. If they adjudge cattle 
to be diseased or distempered, and in a condition to com- 
municate any contagious or infectious disease, they are 
required to order the cattle to be removed from the county 
without delay, upon the same route upon which they came 
in, if practicable. If the owners comply with the order, 
they will not be further liable ; but if they or the persons 
having the cattle in charge willfully delay or neglect to do 
so, the president of the board will direct the sheriff to drive 
the cattle out by the route they came in, or to kill them, if 
the board think it necessary in order to prevent the spread 
of the disease. The parties owning, or in charge of the 
cattle ordered to be removed or killed, are liable for all the 
costs that may accrue in case of examination, removal or 
killing. The act to prevent the introduction of diseased 
cattle into the State provides that no Texas, Mexican or 
Indian cattle shall be driven or otherwise conveyed into 
any county in the State between the-first day of March and 
the first day of December in each year, but this does not 
apply to any cattle which have been kept the entire pre- 
vious winter in the State. Cattle may be carried through 
the State by railroad or steamboat, provided they are not 
unloaded, but the railroad companies or owners of the 
steamboat are responsible for all damages which may result 
from the Spanish or Texas fever, should the same occur 
along the line of transportation ; and the existence of such 
disease along the route shall be prima facie evidence that 



37^ THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the disease has been communicated by such transportation. 
For every head of cattle brought into the State contrary to 
law, a fine of twenty dollars may be recovered, or the party 
be imprisoned in the county jail not less than three, nor 
more than twelve months, or may be subjected to both fine 
and imprisonment. It is unlawful for any three or more 
householders to stop any cattle which they may have good 
reason to believe are passing through any county in viola- 
tion of the act. 

MicMgan. 



In Michigan it is not lawful for any cattle, horses, sheep 
or swine -to run at large on the highway, except in those 
counties or parts of counties where it shall be otherwise 
determined by the board of supervisors in such county. 
Where the law is in force, any person may seize and hold 
in his possession any animal found running at large, and 
give notice to a justice of the peace or a commissioner of 
highways, who is required to post up notices describing 
the animal. The animal must be sold at public outcry in 
not less than thirty nor more than sixty days after date of 
notice; but the owner may redeem the animal by paying 
costs and compensation for keeping — redemption to be 
made within one year. An animal found trespassing by 
the willful act of another, may be taken by the owner on 
demand, after paying reasonable compensation, but the 
person committing the act is liable to a fine of twenty dol- 
lars. Any person taking up a beast going at large contrary 
to law, or contrary to any by-law of a township, is entitled 
to fifty cents per head for all horses, mules, asses and neat 
cattle, and ten cents per head for all sheep, goats and 
swine. When any person is injured in his land by animals, 
he may recover damages in an action for trespass against 
the owner of the beasts, or by distraining the beasts 
doinsT damasfe, unless the animals doing damage shall have 



STOCK LAWS OF THE WESTERN STATES. 377 

been lawfully on adjoining lands, and shall have escaped 
therefrom in consequence of the neglect of the person who 
has suffered the damage to maintain his part of the division 
fence. 

Wisconsin. 



The laws of Wisconsin permit towns to make regula- 
tions concerning the running of animals at large. The 
owner or occupant of lands may distrain all beasts doing 
damage within his inclosure, and when any distress shall 
be made, the person distraining shall be required to keep 
such beasts in some place other than the public pound until 
his damages are appraised ; and within twenty-four hours 
he shall apply to a justice of the peace, who shall appoint 
three disinterested free-holders to appraise the damage 
sustained. If within twenty-four hours after appraisement 
the damages are not paid, the animals may be placed in 
the public pound, to be there maintained until the amount 
of damages and costs is recovered by due process of law. 
If the owner of any sheep infected with contagious disease 
permits any of them to go at large out of his own inclosure 
at any season of the year, he shall forfeit the sum of five 
dollars for each and every such sheep to the person who 
may enter complaint, for each time they are so found run- 
ning at large. If the owner neglects to restrain such 
sheep, any person is authorized to take them up and put 
them in some safe place other than the public pound. 
Rams are not permitted to go at large between July 
15th and December ist, and the owner forfeits ten dollars 
to the person taking up the animal for each time so 
found abroad. 

Minnesota. 



The electors of each town in the State of Minnesota 
have power at their annual meetings to determine the num- 



378 THE PRACTTCAL HOME FARMER. 

ber of pound-masters, and the location of pounds, and reg- 
ulations for impounding animals, and to fix the time and 
manner in which cattle, mules, asses and sheep may be 
permitted to go at large, provided that no cattle, horses, 
mules nor asses be allowed to go at large between the 15th 
day of October and the ist day of April. The owner or 
occuj^ant of lands may distrain all beasts doing damage 
upon his lands during the night-time, from eight o'clock in 
the evening until sunrise ; and when any such distress is 
made the distrainer shall keep such beasts in some secure 
place other than the public pound, until his damages are 
appraised, unless the same is made on Sunday, in which 
case, before the next Tuesday morning thereafter, he shall 
apply to a justice of the peace of the town, who shall 
appoint three disinterested persons to appraise damages. 
No damage can be recovered by the owner of any lands 
for damage committed by any beasts during the day-time, 
until it is first proved that the lands were inclosed by a 
lawful fence. Distress may be made at any time before 
the beasts doing damage escape from the lands, and with- 
out regard to the sufficiency of fences. The owner of any 
horse or other animals, having the disease known as the 
glanders, who knowingly permits such animal to run at 
large, or be driven upon any of the highways of the State, 
or any hotel-keeper, or keeper of any public barn, who 
permits any such animal having such disease to be stabled, 
such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, 
upon conviction before any justice of the peace, shall be 
punished by a fine of not more than one hundred nor less 
than twenty-five dollars. 

Iowa. 

In Iowa, no stallion, jack, bull, boar or buck is per- 
mitted to run at large. Persons aggrieved are allowed to 
distrain any such animals and compel the owner to pay 
damages. If the animal is not redeemed within seven days, 



STOCK LAWS OF THE WESTERN STATES. 379 

seven days' notice of its sale at public auction must be 
given, the proceeds to apply on damages after deducting 
costs. If any domestic animal, lawfully on adjoining land, 
escapes therefrom in consequence of the neglect of the 
person suffering the damage to maintain his part of the 
division fence, the owner of the animal is not liable for any 
damages. If beasts are not lawfully upon the adjoining 
land, and came upon it, or if they escaped therefrom into 
the injured inclosure, in consequence of the neglect of the 
adjoining owner to maintain a partition fence or any part 
of one, which it was his duty to maintain, then the owner 
of the adjoining land shall be liable as well as the owner of 
the beasts. Fence-viewers appraise all damages. An act of 
April 8, 1868, forbids anyone to bring into the State, or to 
have in possession any Texas, Cherokee or Indian cattle. 
Transportation on railroads through the State is not for- 
bidden, nor the driving through any part of the State of 
such Texas or Southern cattle as have been wintered at 
least one winter north of the southern boundary of the State 
of Missouri or Kansas. The penalty of violation is a fine 
not exceeding $ i ,000, or imprisonment in county jail, at the 
discretion of the court, not to exceed six months, toeether 
with all damages that may accrue by reason of such viola- 
tion of the law. Any one driving or importing diseased 
sheep into the State, knowing the disease to be conta- 
gious, is deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and is punishable 
by fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one' 
hundred dollars. The same fine is imposed upon any person 
who may turn out of his inclosure or sell sheep, know- 
ing them to be diseased. 

Kansas. 

In Kansas, when a majority of the electors in any town- 
ship petition county commissioners for orders to confine 
animals during the night-time, such orders shall be made 



380 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

and notice thereof be given. The owner is liable for 
depredations of animals during the continuance of such 
orders, without regard to condition of fences. Persons 
damaged in their property have a lien upon the stock. If 
any stallion or jack over the age of two years is found at 
large, the owner, if known, must be notified of the fact; 
and if he fails or refuses to confine the animal, he is liable 
to a fine of five dollars for the first offense, and ten dollars 
for each subsequent offense, and all damages. Stallions 
and jacks, not used for breeding purposes, may be castrated 
by the person taking them up, if the owner fails, after three 
days' notice, to reclaim the same, and pay damages ; or 
such animals may be killed after six days' notice. Any 
bull, boar or stag found running at large may be taken up 
at any time or place. Electors of townships may decide 
whether swine may run at large or not, at least ten voters 
having petitioned for the submission of the question. No 
horse, mule nor ass diseased with glanders is allowed to 
be at large, under a penalty of not less than five dollars 
nor more than $ioo. Knowingly to import or drive into 
the State sheep affected with contagious disease is a 
misdemeanor, with a fine not to exceed $200. The same 
penalty is provided for any owner allowing such sheep to 
run at large, together with responsibility for damages to 
other owners. Rams must be restrained between June 15th 
and December 15th, under penalty ot five dohars for each 
day allowed at large Electors of townships determine 
whether or not sheep shall run at large. In February, 
1867, a sanitary measure was passed for the protection oi 
cattle from the ravages of the Spanish fever. Stock from 
Texas and the Indian Territory brought into the State 
between the first day of March and the first day in 
December in any year are not to be driven through the 
State, except in the remoter parts on the plains, and then 
not within five miles of any highway or ranch, except by 
consent of the owner of the latter. Violation of the law 



STATE LAWS RELATING TO FENCES. 38 1 

is treated as a misdemeanor, and the first offense is punish- 
able by fine of $ioo to $ 1,000, and imprisonment from 
thirty days to six months ; for subsequent offenses the 
penalties are doubled. 

Nebraska and the Territories, 



In Nebraska, cattle and other stock are restramed in 
particular counties. The legislation concerning cattle, 
etc., is of a local character in all the far-west States and 
Territories and also in the State of California. 

• 

Oregon. 

The laws of Oregon interdict the running at large of 
any stallion, jack or mule, over eighteen months old, within 
the months of April, May, June, July, September and 
October. If not kept for breeding purposes, the animal 
may be gelded. If kept for breeding purposes, the dis- 
trainer may return him to the owner, and recover two 
dollars. The owner of such an animal is liable for damages. 
Animals affected with contagious diseases must not be 
brought into the State under a penalty of not less than fifty 
dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for the introduc- 
tion of each animal so diseased. 



Laws relating to fences are constantly undergoing 
changes by amendment by the several State legislatures, 
especially in the Western States. The general idea is to 
simplify the laws as to what may constitute a lawful fence, 
anda as rule, to give to localities within the State the 
power to vote upon the matter, even to doing away with 
fences altogether. This seemed necessary in much of the 



383 THE PRACTltAL HOME FARMER. 

vast prairie region ; but cheap transportation by railways, 
and the low price (in contrast with that of lumber) of wire 
fencing, is operating again to induce the employment of 
fencing material more than formerly. 

Hedges and fences of living trees are largely employed 
in the settlement of a new country. These again give way, 
as the country becomes thickly settled and the land valu- 
able, for the reason that living fences require much room 
for the extension oV roots. Yet in all prairie countries liv- 
ing fences will in time pay their cost if made of valuable 
timber, since for all ornamental work a tree standing alone 
and open to the action of storms becomes more valuable in 
its grain than those standing closely together, and straighter 
grained. The following synopsis of the fence laws, origin- 
ally compiled for the Department of Agriculture at Wash- 
ington, as heretofore stated, will serve to show the general 
scope of these laws in the various. States. 



^ence JjQwss in General. 



In the older States the laws regulating fences are sub- 
stantially alike. As to height, a legal fence is generally 
four and a half feet, if constructed of rails or timber. 
Ditches, brooks, ponds, creeks, rivers, etc., sufficient to 
turn stock, are deemed equivalents for a fence. In case a 
stream or other body of water is considered inadequate to 
the turning of stock, the facts are investigated by officers 
known as fence-viewers, who will designate the side of the 
water upon which a fence shall be erected, if the fence be 
deemed necessary, the cost to be equally borne by the 
parties whose lands are divided. Occupants of adjoining 
lands which are being improved are required to maintain 
partition fences in equal shares. Neglect to build, or to 
keep in repair such fences, subjects the negligent party to 
damages, as well as double, and in some States treble, the 



FENCE LAWS IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 383 

cost of building- or repairing, to the aggrieved party. A 
person ceasing to improve land can not remove his fence 
unless others interested refuse to purchase within a reason- 
able time. 

A provision in the laws of these States, which is well 
calculated to serve the interests of neighbors, saving the 
expense of fence-building, is one permitting persons own- 
ing adjoining lots or lands to fence them in one common 
field, and for the greater advantage of all, allowing them to 
form an association, and to adopt binding rules and regula- 
tions for the management of their common concerns, and 
such equitable modes of improvements as are required by 
their common interest; but in all other respects, each pro- 
prietor may, at his own expense, inclose, manage, and 
improve his own land as he thinks best, maintaining his own 
proportion of the general inclosure. 



pence j^aws in the Hevo England States. 



The laws regulating fences in the New England States 
differ only in a few particulars. The required height of a 
fence in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire is four 
feet; in Vermont, four and a half feet; in Rhode Island a 
hedge with a ditch is required to be three feet high upon 
the bank of the ditch, well staked, at the distance of two 
and a half feet, bound together at the top, and sufficiently 
filled to prevent small stock from creeping through, and the 
bank of the ditch not to be less than one foot above the 
surface of the ground. A hedge without ditch to be four 
feet high, staked, bound, and filled ; post-and-rail fence on 
the bank of a ditch to be four rails high, each well set in 
post, and not less than four and a half feet high. A stone- 
wall fence is required to be four feet high, with a flat stone 
over the top, or surmounted by a good rail or pole ; a stone 



384 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

wall without such flat stone, rail, or jaost on top, to be four 
and a half feet high. 

In each of the New England States there are plain 
provisions in regard to keeping up division fences on equal 
shares, and penalties for refusal to build them, and when 
built, for neglect to keep them in repair. Fence-viewers in 
the respective towns settle all disputes as to division fences. 
Owners of adjoining fields are allowed to make their own 
rules and regulations concerningr their manasfement as com- 
mons. No one not choosing to inclose uncultivated land 
can be compelled to bear any of the expense of a division 
fence, but afterwards electing to cultivate, he must pay for 
one-half the fence erected on his line. 



^enoe I^avws in the TVl'ddle gtates. 



New Jersey. 



Fences in New Jersey are required to be four feet two 
inches in height, if of posts and rails, timber, boards, brick 
or stone ; other fences must be four and a half feet, and 
close and strong enough to prevent horses and neat cattle 
from going through or under. Partition fences must be 
proof against sheep. Ditches and drains made in or 
through salt marshes and meadows for fencing and draining 
the same, being five feet wide and three feet deep, and all 
ditches or drains made in or throug-h other meadows beinor 
nine feet wide at the surface, and four and a half feet wide 
at the bottom, three feet deep, and lying on mud or miry 
bottom, are considered lawful fences. Division fences must 
be equally maintained. If one party ceases improving, he 
cannot take away his fence without first having given 
twelve months' notice. Hedge-growing is encouraged by 
law. 



FENCE LAWS IiV THE MIDDLE STATES. 385 

New York. 



In New York, the provisions for the maintenance of 
division fences are similar to those of New England ; but, 
whenever a division fence has been injured by flood or 
other casualty, each party interested is required to replace 
or repair his portion within ten days of notification. When 
electors in any town have made rules or regulations pre- 
scribing what shall be deemed a sufficient fence, persons 
neglecting to comply are precluded from recovering com- 
pensation for damages done by stock lawfully going at large 
on the highways, that may enter on their lands. The 
sufficiency of a fence is presumed until the contrary is 
established ; assessors and commissioners of higliways 
perform the duties offence-viewers. 

Pennsylvania. 



In Pennsylvania, towns and counties obtain special 
legislation as to the runninof of stock or other cattle at 
large. 

Delaware. 



In Delaware, a good structure of wood or stone, or 
well-set thorn, four and a half feet high, or four feet with 
a ditch within two feet, is a lawful fence ; in Sussex County 
four feet is the height required. Fence -viewers are 
appointed by the Court of General Sessions in each 
" hundred." Partition fences are provided for as in other 
States. 



^enee f^avos in the South. 



Maryland. 



There is no general law in Maryland regulating fences, 
the law being local and applicable to particular counties. 

Virginia. 



In Virginia a lawful fence is five feet in height, includ- 
ing the mound to the bottom of the ditch, if the fence is 
built on a mound. Certain water-courses are specified as 
equivalent to fences. Four feet is the height of a legal 
fence in West Virginia, and five feet in North Carolina. 
In the latter State persons neglecting to keep their fences 
in order during the season of crops are deemed guilty of 
misdemeanor, and are also liable to damages. Certain 
rivers are declared sufficient fences. 

Georgia. 



The laws of Georgia provide that all fences, or inclos- 
ures commonly called worm-fences, shall be five feet high, 
and from the grround to the height of three feet the rails 
must not be more than four inches apart. Any inclosure 
made by means of a ditch or trench must be three feet 
wide and two feet deep, and if made of both fence and 
ditch, the latter must be four feet wide and the fence five 
feet high from the bottom of the ditch. All water-courses 
that are or have been navigable are deemed legal fences, 
as far up the stream as navigation has ever extended, 
whenever, by reason of freshets or otherwise, fences can- 
not be kept ; and the streams are subject to the rules 

applicable to other fences. 

386 



FENCE LAWS IN THE SOUTH. 387 



South Carolina. 



Fences are required to be six feet high around pro- 
visions. All fences strongly and closely made of rails, 
boards, or posts and rails, or of an embankment of earth 
capped with rails, or timber of any sort, or live hedges five 
feet in heieht, measured from the level or surface of the 
earth, are deemed lawful ; and every planter is bound to 
keep such lawful fence around his cultivated grounds, 
except where a navigable stream or deep water-course 
may be a boundary. No stakes or canes that might injure 
horses or cattle are allowed in an inclosure. 

Florida. 



The fences in Florida are required to be five feet in 
height, but where there is a ditch four feet wide, the five 
feet may be measured from the bottom of the ditch. If 
the fence is not strictly according to law, no action for tres- 
pass or damages by stock will lie. 

Alabama. 



In Alabama all inclosures and fences must be at least 
five feet high, and, if made of rails, be well staked and 
ridered, or otherwise sufficiently locked; and from the 
ground to the height of three feet, the rails must be not 
more than four inches apart ; if made of palings, the pales 
must not be more than three inches apart ; or if made with 
a ditch, four feet wide at the top, the fence, of whatever 
material composed, must be five feet high from the bottom 
of the ditch, and three feet from the top of the bank, and 
close enough to prevent stock of any kind from getting 
through. No suit for damages can be maintained, if the 



388 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

fence is not a legal one. For placing in an inclosure any 
stakes, poles, poison, or anything which may kill or injure 
stock, a penalty of fifty dollars is provided. Partition fences 
must be equally maintained. 

Mississippi. 

Fences in Mississippi are required to be five feet high, 
substantially and closely built with plank, pickets, hedges, 
or other substantial materials, or by raising the ground into 
a ridge, two and a half feet high, and erecting thereon a 
fence of common rails or other material two and a half feet 
in height. Owners of adjoining lands, or lessees thereof 
for more than two years, are required to contribute equally 
to the erection of fences, if the lands are in cultivation or 
used for pasturing. No owner is bound to contribute to 
the erection of a dividing fence, when preparing to build a 
fence of his own, and to leave a lane on his own land be- 
tween himself and the adjoining owner; but the failure to 
erect such fence for sixty days is deemed an abandonment 
of intention to do so, and determination to adopt the fence 
already built. 

Texas. 



In Texas, every gardener, farmer, or planter is required 
to maintain a fence around his cultivated lands at least five 
feet high, and sufficiently close to prevent hogs from pass- 
ing through it, not leaving a space of more than six inches 
in any one place within three feet of the ground. 

Arkansas. 



Fences in ArKansas must be five feet high. In all dis- 
puted cases, the sufficiency of a fence is to be determined 
by three disinterested householders, appointed by a justice 
of the peace. Division fences are provided for as in a 
majority of the other States. 



FENCE LAWS IN THE WESTERN STATES. 389 

Tennessee. 



In Tennessee, every planter is required to make a fence 
around his cultivated land at least five feet high. When 
any trespass occurs, a justice of the peace will appoint two 
freeholders to view the fence as to its sufficiency, and to 
ascertain damages. If a person, whose fence is insufficient, 
should injure any animal which may come upon his lands, 
he is responsible in damages. In case of any dispute be- 
tween parties as to a division fence, a justice of the peace 
will appoint three disinterested freeholders to determine 
the portion to be maintained by each. No owner, whose 
fence is exclusively on his own land, can be compelled to 
allow his neighbor to join it. 

Kentucky. 



In Kentucky, all sound and strong fences of rails, plank 
or iron, five feet high, and so close that cattle or other 
stock cannot creep through, or made of stone or brick four 
and a half feet high, are deemed legal fences. Division 
fences cannot be removed without consent of the party on 
adjoining land, except between November ist and March 
1st, in any year, six months' notice having been given. 



^enee j^aws in the V^estern gtates. 



Ohio. 



The laws of Ohio provide that whenever a fence is 
erected by any person on the line of his land, and the per- 
son owning the land adjoining shall make an inclosure on 
the opposite side, the latter shall pay one-half the value of 
the fence as far as it answers the purpose of a division 
fence, to be adjudged by the township trustees. 



390 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Indiana. 



The laws are simple and founded on common sense in 
this State. Any structure or hedge, or ditch, in the 
nature of a fence, used for purposes of inclosure, which 
shall, on the testimony of skillful men, appear to be suf- 
ficient, is a lawful fence. 

Michigan. 



Fences in Michigan must be four and and a half feet 
high, and in good repair ; consisting of rails, timber, 
boards or stone walls, or any combination of these mate- 
rials. Rivers, brooks, ponds, ditches, hedges, etc., deemed 
by fence-viewers equivalent to a fence, are held to be legal 
inclosures. No damages for trespass are recoverable if the 
fence is not of the required height. Partition fences must 
be equally maintained as long as parties improve their 
lands. When lands owned in severalty have been occu- 
pied in common, any occupants may have land divided. 
Fences extending into the water must be made in equal 
shares, unless otherwise agreed by parties interested. If 
ano person determines not to improve any portion of his 
lands adjoining the partition fence, he must give six months' 
notice to all the adjoining occupants, after which he will 
not be required to keep up any part of the fence. Over- 
seers of highways act as fence-viewers. 

Illinois. 



According to the statute laws of Illinois, unless decided 
otherwise by counties or districts by a popular vote, fences 
must be five feet high. The laws regulating division fences 
are similar to those of the New England States. In cases 
of dispute three disinterested householders decide as to 



FENCE LAWS IN THE WESTERN STATES. 391 

the sufficiency of any fence. Proprietors of commons may 
make their own regulations. Line fences are protected on 
pubHc highways. 

Missouri. 



In Missouri all fields must be inclosed by hedge or 
tence. Hedges must be five feet high ; fences of posts 
and rails, posts and palings, posts and plank, or palisades, 
four and a half feet ; turf, four feet, with trenches on either 
side three feet wide at top and three feet deep ; worm 
(Virginia) fence at least five feet high to top of rider ; or, 
if not ridered, five feet to top rail, and corner locked with 
strong rails, poles or stakes. Double damage may be 
recovered from any person maiming or killing animals 
within his inclosure if adjudged insufficient. 

Wisconsin. 



A LEGAL fence in Wisconsin is four and a half feet high, 
if of rails, timber, boards or stone walls, or their combina- 
tions, or other things which shall be deemed equivalent 
thereto in the judgment of the fence-viewers. While 
adjoining parties cultivate lands they must keep up fences 
in equal shares ; double value of building or repairing may 
be recovered from delinquents. The law regulating division 
fences is similar in most particulars to those of the New 
England States and Illinois. Overseers of highways per- 
form the duties of fence-viewers. 

Minnesota. 



In Minnesota four and a half feet is the legal height. 
Partition fences are to be kept in good repair in equal 
shares. In case of neglect, complaint may be made by the 
aggrieved party to the town supervisors, who will proceed 



392 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

to examine the matter, and if they determine that the fence is 
insufficient, notice will be given to the delinquent occupant 
of land; and if he fails to build or repair within a reason- 
able time, the complainant may build or repair, and may 
recover double the expense, with interest at the rate of one 
per cent, per month, in a civil action. No part of a division 
fence can be removed if the owner or occupant of adjoining 
land will, within two months, pay the appraised value. 
When any uninclosed grounds are afterwards inclosed, the 
owner or occupant is required to pay for one-half of each 
partition fence ; the value thereof to be determined by a 
majority of the town supervisors. If a party to a division 
fence discontinues the improvement of his land, and gives 
six months' notice thereof to the occupants of adjoining 
lands, he is not required to keep up any part of such fence 
during the time his lands are unimproved, and he may 
remove his portion if the adjoining owner or occupant will 
not pay therefor. County commissioners are the author- 
ized fence-viewers in those counties that are not divided 
into towns. 

Iowa. 

A LEGAL fence in Iowa is four and a half feet high, con- 
structed of strong materials, put up in a good, substantial 
manner. In all counties where, by a vote of the legal 
voters, or by an act of the General Assembly, it is deter- 
mined that hogs and sheep shall not run at large, a fence made 
of three rails of good, substantial material, or three boards 
not less than six inches wide and three-fourths of an inch 
thick, such rails or boards to be fastened in or to good, 
substantial posts, not more than ten feet apart where rails 
are used; or any other fence which, in the opinion of the 
fence-viewers, shall be equivalent thereto, is deemed a law- 
ful fence, provided that the lowest or bottom rail shall not 
be more than twenty nor less than sixteen inches from the 



FENCE LAWS IN THE WESTERN STATES. 393 

ground, and that the fence shall be fifty-four inches in 
height. The respective owners of inclosed lands must 
keep up fences equally as long as they improve. In case 
of neglect to repair or rebuild, the adjoining owner may do 
so, and the work being adjudged sufficient by the fence- 
viewers, and the value determined, the complainant may 
recover the amount, with interest at the rate of one per 
cent, per month. If an owner desires to throw his field 
open, he shall give the adjoining parties six months' notice, 
or such shorter notice as may be directed by the fence- 
viewers. 

Kansas. 



In Kansas fences may be of posts and rails, posts and 
palings, or posts and planks, at least four and a half feet 
high ; of turf, four feet, and staked and ridered, with 
a ditch on either side at least three feet wide at the top 
and three feet deep ; a worm fence must be at least four 
feet and a half high to top of rider, or if not ridered, four 
and a half feet high to top rail, the corners to be locked 
with strong rails, posts or stakes. The bottom rail, board 
or plank in any fence must not be more than two feet from 
the ground in any township, and in those townships where 
hogs are not prohibited from running at large it must not 
be more than six inches from the ground. All such fences 
must be substantially built and sufficiently close to prevent 
stock from going through. Stone fences are required to 
be four feet high, eighteen inches wide at the bottom, and 
twelve at the top. All hedges must be of sufficient 
height and thickness to protect the field or inclosure. A 
wire fence must consist of posts of ordinary size for fenc- 
ing purposes, set in the ground at least two feet deep and 
not more than twelve feet apart, with holes through posts, 
or staples on the side, not more than fifteen inches apart, 
and four separate lines of fence wire, not smaller than 



394 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

number nine, to be provided with rollers and levers at 
suitable distances, to strain and hold the wires straight 
and firm. Owners of adjoining lands must maintain fences 
equally. In case of neglect of one party to build or repair, 
another party may do so and recover the amount expended, 
with interest at the rate of one per cent, per month. A 
person not improving his land is not required to keep up 
any portion of a division fence. The trustee, clerk and 
treasurer in each township act as fence-viewers, to adjust 
all disputes concerning fences. 

Nebraska. 



A LEGAL fence in Nebraska is any structure, or hedge, 
or ditch in the nature of a fence, used for the purpose of 
inclosure, which is such as good husbandmen generally 
keep. Division fences must be equally maintained. A 
party may remove his portion of division fence by giving 
sixty days' notice. If removed without such notice the 
party so doing is liable for full damages. Where a fence 
is injured or destroyed by fire or flood, it must be repaired 
within ten days after notice by interested persons. Justices 
of the peace are ex-officio fence-viewers. 



^ence I^avus of the pacific glope. 



California. 



The legal fences in California are described with great 
minuteness. Wire fences must consist of posts not less 
than twelve inches in circumference, set in the ground not 
less than eighteen inches, and not less than eight feet 
apart, with not less than three horizontal wires, each one- 
fourth of an inch in diameter, the first to be eighteen 



FENCE LAWS OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 395 

inches from the ground, the other two above at intervals 
of one foot, all well stretched and securely fastened from 
post to post, with one rail, slat, pole or plank of suitable 
size and strength, securely fastened to the post, not less 
than four and a half feet from the ground. 

Post-and-rail fence must be made with posts of the 
same size and at the same distances apart and the same 
depth in the ground as above required, with three rails, 
slates or planks of suitable size and strength, the top one 
to be four and a half feet from the ground, the other two 
at equal distances between the first and the ground, all 
securely fastened to the post. Picket fences must be of 
the same height as above, made of pickets not less than 
six inches in circumference, placed not more than six 
inches apart, driven in the ground not less than ten inches, 
all well secured at the top by slats or caps. 

Ditch and pole fence — the ditch must not be less than 
four feet wide on the top and three feet deep, with embank- 
ment thrown up inside of ditch, with substantial posts set 
in the embankment not more than eight feet apart, and a 
plank, pole, rail or slat securely fastened to posts at least 
five feet high from the bottom of the ditch. Pole fence 
must be four and a half feet high, with stakes not less than 
three inches in diameter, set in the ground not less than 
eighteen inches, and when the stakes are placed seven feet 
apart, there must not be less than six horizontal poles well 
secured to the stakes; if the stakes are six feet apart, five 
poles ; if three or four feet, four poles ; if two feet apart, 
three poles,, and the stakes need not be more than two 
inches in diameter ; if one foot apart, one pole, and the 
stakes need not be more than two inches in diameter. The 
above is a lawful fence so long as the stakes and poles are 
securely fastened, and in a fair state of preservation. 

Hedge fence is considered lawful, when by reliable evi- 
dence it shall be proved equal in strength, and as v/ell 
suited to the protection of inclosed lands as the other fences 
described. 



396 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Brush fence must be four and a half feet high and at 
least twelve inches wide, with stakes not less than two inches 
in diameter, set in the ground not less than eighteen inches, 
and on each side, every eight feet, tied together at the top, 
with horizontal pole tied to the outside stake five feet from 
the ground. In the case of partition fences, if one party 
refuse or neglect to build or maintain his share, the other 
may do so and recover the value. Three days' notice to 
repair is sufficient. The sufficiency of a fence is to be 
determined by three disinterested householders. 



RlGRlSOB CTlpRRrEQ IXjOf^EF?. 



Property Rights. 

Any and all property which a woman owns at her mar- 
riage, together with the rents, issues, and profits thereof, 
and the property that comes to her by descent, devise, 
bequest, gift, or grant, or which she acquires by her trade, 
business, labor, or services performed on her separate 
account, shall, notwithstanding her marriage, remain her 
sole and separate property, and may b^a used, collected, 
and invested by her in her own name, and shall not be sub- 
ject to the interference or control of her husband, or be 
liable for his debts, unless for such debts as may have 
been contracted for the support of herself or children by 
her as his agent. 

A married woman may likewise bargain, sell, assign, 
transfer, and convey such property, and enter into con- 
tracts regarding the same on her separate trade, labor, 
or business with the like effect as if she were unmarried. 
Her husband, however, is not liable for such contracts, and 



RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN. 397 

they do not render him or his property in any way liable 
therefor. She may also sue and be sued in all matters 
having relation to her sole and separate property in the 
same manner as if she were sole. 

In the following cases a married woman's contract may 
be enforced against her and her separate estate: 

1. When the contract is created in or respecting the 
carrying on of the trade or business of the wife. 

2. When it relates to or is made for the benefit of her 
sole or separate estate. 

3. When the intention to charge the separate estate is 
expressed in the contract creating the liability. 

When a husband ;-eceives a principal sum of money 
belonging to his wife, the law presumes he receives it for 
her use, and he must account for it, or expend it on her 
account by her authority or direction, or that she gave it to 
him as a gift. 

If he receives interest or income and spends it with her 
knowledge and without objection, a gift will be presumed 
from acquiescence. 

Money received by a husband from his wife and 
expended by him, under her direction, on his land, in 
improving the home of the family, is a gift, and cannot 
be recovered by the wife, or reclaimed, or an account 
demanded. 

An appropriation by a wife, herself, of her separate 
property to the use and benefit of her husband, in the 
absence of an agreement to repay, or any circumstances 
from which such an agreement can be inferred, will not 
create the relation of debtor and creditor, nor render the 
husband liable to account. 

Though no words of gift be spoken, a gift by a wife to 
her husband may be shown by the very nature of the 
transaction, or appear from the attending circumstances. 

A wife who causelessly deserts her husband is not enti- 
tled to the aid of a court of equity in getting possession 



398 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of such chattels as she has contributed to the furnishino- 
and adornment of her husband's house. Her legal title 
remains, and she could convey her interest to a third party 
by sale, and said party would have a good title, unless her 
husband should prove a gift. 

Wife's property is not liable to a lien of a sub-con- 
tractor for materials furnished to the husband for the erec- 
tion of a building thereon, where it is not shown that the 
wife was notified of the intention to furnish the materials, 
or a settlement made with the contractor and given to the 
wife, her agent or trustee. 

Good Business Maxims. 



Every man is the architect of his own fortune. 

Caution is the father of security. 

Never boast of your success. 

Speak well of honorable competitors ; of dishonorable 
ones say nothing. 

Systematize your business, and keep an eye on ex- 
penses. Small leaks sink large ships. 

Never fail to take a receipt for money paid, and insist 
on giving a receipt for money paid. 

Keep copies of all important letters. 

Be prompt in all things. 

Avoid going to law. 

Apply the golden rule to your business transactions, 
and you can't go far astray. 

Josh Billings remarks: "I like to see a fellow practice 
his religion when he measures corn, as well as when he 
hollers Glory Hallelujah." 

Some Hints on Business Law. 



Ignorance of the law excuses no one. 

It is a fraud to conceal a fraud. 

The law compels no one to do impossibilities. 



DEFINITIONS OF MERCANTILE TERMS. 399 

An agreement without consideration is void. 

Signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law. 

A receipt for money paid is not legally conclusive. 

The acts of one partner binds all others. 

Each partner individually is responsible for the whole 
amount of the debts of the firm. 

Contracts made on Sunday cannot be enforced. 

Contracts for advertisements in Sunday papers are 
invalid. 

A note drawn on Sunday is void. 

A contract made with a minor is void. 

A contract made with a lunatic is void. 

Principals are responsible for the acts of their agents. 

Agents are responsible to their principals. 

A note obtained by fraud, or from a person in a state 
of intoxication, cannot be collected. 

If a note be lost or stolen, it does not release the 
maker ; he must pay it. 

An endorser of a note is exempt from liability if not 
served with notice of protest with the least possible delay. 

There are, of course, exceptions to the above-mentioned 
general rules, which special cases may develop. 



BeFri^nws^s be Mbrch^jfiiie IForms. 



Acceptance. — The written agreement to pay a draft 
according to its terms. 

Account. — The systematic arrangement of debits and 
credits under the name of a person, species of property or 
cause. 

Assets. — Resources ; available means. 

Balance. — A term used to note the difference between 
the two sides of an account, or the sum necessary to make 
the account balance. 



\00 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Bz7/. — The general name for a statement in writing, 
used in a variety of ways. 

Bills Receivable — Written obligations or promises to 
pay money due the concern. 

Bills Payable. — The concern's written promises to pay. 

Capital. — Investment in business. 

Days of Grace. — The time allowed by law and custom 
between the written date of maturity of a note or draft and 
the date upon which it must be paid. 

Discount. — Consideration allowed for the payment of a 
debt before due. 

Draft. — An order for the payment of money. 

Drawee. — The person on whom a draft is drawn. 

Drawer. — The person who draws the draft. 

Endorse. — To subscribe to a thing ; to write one's name 
across the back of a note or draft. 

Exchange. — The fundamental principle of trade. Paper 
by which debts are paid without the transmission of money. 
Premium and discount arising from the purchase and sale 
of funds. 

Favor. — The polite term for a letter received. A note 
or draft is m favor of the person to whom it is to be paid. 

Honor. — To accept or pay when due. 

Interest. — Compensation for the use of money. 

Invoice. — A bill of goods bought or sold. 

Ledger. — The chief book of accounts. 

Liability. — A debt or claim against a person. 

Maturity. — ^The date on which a note or draft falls 
due. 

Maximum. — The highest price or rate. 

Minimum. — The lowest price or rate. 

Net. — That which remains after a certain reduction. 

Net Proceeds. — The amount due a consignor after de- 
ducting charges attending sales. 

Note. — An incidental remark made for the purpose of 
explanation. A written obligation to pay money. 



BUSINESS CHARACTERS. 



401 



Par. — Equal in value. 

Principal. — An employer. The head of a commercial 
house. The amount loaned on which interest accrues. 

Protest. — The formal notice that a note or draft was not 
paid when due, or that the acceptance of a draft was 
refused. 

Stock. — Capital in trade. The title given to the prop- 
erty of a business. 

Siirety. — Indemnity against loss. A person bound for 
the performance of a contract by another. 

Tender. — An offer for acceptance. A legal tender is an 
offer of such money as the law prescribes. 

Usury. — Illegal interest. 

Voucher. — A written evidence of an act performed. 



Business Characters. 



@ at. 

"/^ account. 
% per cent, 
i' one and ^ ' 
i" one and Y^ 
i^ one and y^ 



No. number. 
+ sign of addition. 
- sign of subtraction. 
X sign of multiplication. 
-^ sign of division. 
= sign of equality. 




J^LIVE STOCJ^.^^ 



BeRSGS. 



How to Observe Diseases. 



*TaT'E are sometimes asked how it is that we know so 
<**» exactly what the disease is that this or that animal 
is affected with, as it cannot speak and narrate its ills and 
its aches. To this question we might repeat a common 
truism, " A shut mouth tells no lies ; " therefore, nobody is 
deceived. Nature has but one set of weights and vicasures, 
and these only should be used. Thus, if a horse have acorn 
or bruised heel, he will be as sure to go lame as he would 
with an ordinary sprain. The difference is, that he not 
only stretches out the sore foot, but he elevates the heel 
from the ground, and will not set his foot flat to please, or 
it may be said to deceive any one. The uneasy eye, the 
anxious expression, and the sharp, peculiar look, tell the 
tale of suffering, and bear testimony to a description so 
faithful and true, that every man should understand how to 
interpret them. 

The Pulse. 



The pulse of the horse and the ox is felt on the inner 
angle of the lower jaw, as being the most convenient place. 
The state of the pulse tells the condition of the heart, 
whether the disease is of an exalted or depressed character, 
or whether sickness is at all present. The pulse is more 
frequent in young than in old animals. In the full-grown 
and healthy horse it beats from thirty-two to thirty-eight 
in the minute ; in the ox or cow, thirty-five to forty-two; in 
the sheep, seventy to seventy-five ; and in the dog, from 
ninety to ninety-eight. In inflammations and fevers the 
frequency of the pulse is increased. In debility and 



4o6 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



depression it is slower, but sometimes quicker than natural. 
There are the quick pulse, the strong, the sharp, the regu- 
lar, the intermittent, and many other varieties, both fanciful 
and real, which few persons can appreciate. The pulse of 
inflammation and fever numbers from seventy-five to eighty 




beats in the minute ; and in great debility, as in the last 
stage of glanders, accompanied with tubercles of the 
lungs, the pulse will number one hundred beats per 
minute. 

Treatment of Disease. 



Bleeding, in domestic practice, is almost discarded, and 
in veterinary practice it should never have been employed. 
And if this fact shall be the means of opening the eyes of 



LIVE STOCK, 407 

those interested (and who is not?) in the health of the ani- 
mals supplying us with meat, and the horse (a willing and 
a faithful help), to the injury done by bleeding in health or 
disease, the writer will have his reward. Avoid these 
measures, and substitute a rational and successful system 
of treating the diseases of your animals. Ascertain whether 
your horse is suffering from a disease of an exalted or 
inflammatory kind ; substitute aconite, pure air, and cold 
water for bleeding, and in a few hours you will have no 
cause to regret the change. If the disease be of a depressd 
kind, accompanied with weakness and debility, give nux 
vomica, iron, and a generous diet. If the disease be an 
eruptive fever, give sulphite of soda to purify the blood. 
In rheumatism, administer colchicum and carbonate of soda. 
In mange, apply the sulphuret of potassa to the skin, 
and thereby destroy the small insects which cause the 
trouble. 

In hard swellings use the preparations of iodine, to 
cause their absorption. In lameness, allow absolute and 
entire rest, and apply hot or cold applications and slight 
irritants to the parts, to remove the products of the sprain. 
Ascertain the cause of disease, and, having found it, have 
it removed, and the effects will cease. If the animal be 
costive from eating dry, concentrated feed, remove it, and 
give green feed or bran, but do not give physic. If diar- 
rhea be present, leave it, at least for a time, to itself, as it 
is nature's plan of getting rid of the offending matter. But, 
if it should continue, chalk and opium, as an astringent, are 
what is wanted. The reader cannot fail to see how simple, 
and his experience will demonstrate how successful, these 
measures are in arresting and curing the diseases of all 
our domestic animals. 

Spasmodic Colic. 



Symptoms. — All at once the horse that a few moments 
ago was well, apparently, shakes his head — leaves his feed, 



408 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

looks round at his flank, mostly at the right side, as if 
pointing out the seat of the disease, scrapes the ground 
with his front foot, and almost strikes his belly with one of 
his hind ones. The spasm continuing, the horse breaks 
out into a sweat, heaving at the flanks ; great excitement, 
kicking, and rolling; intervals of ease from pain. 

Causes. — ■ Drinking cold water when heated, or colder 
water than commonly used, as a city horse is used to drink- 
ing water which is warmer in summer, and colder in win- 
ter, than water taken from a pump ; washing the belly with 
cold water; driving horses into a pond of cold water. 

Treatment. — Give something to heat the stomach and 
bowels. Try a bottle of warm ale or porter, adding a little 
whisky, or a tablespoonful of ground ginger to it. If 
relief be not obtained in half an hour, give a drench, com- 
posed of tincture of aconite root, twenty-five drops ; spirit 
of turpentine, one ounce; one bottle of cold ale or porter. 
If necessary, give injections of warm water (not hot), 
soap, and a handful of table salt. Occasionally walk the 
horse about, to excite the bowels to action. 



Flatulent Colic. 

Pain is considerable at first, which in a few hours gives 
way to sleepiness (see Coma). This is caused by disten- 
tion of the bowels with gas, commonly called wind, thereby 
paralyzing the parvagus and nerve centers, and ultimately 
the brain itself. This variety of colic is readily distin- 
guished from the others by swelling of the belly, particu- 
larly at the flanks, called tympanitis, or drum-belly. 

Causes. — Indigestion of food in the stomach; fermenta- 
tion is set up, and there is evolution (giving forth) of 
carbonic acid gas. This gas is not liberated per rectum 
from the body as speedily as generated. The horse and 
cow cannot belch or eruct wind from their stomachs as man 



LIVE STOCK. 



409 



and dog can ; hence the frequency of tympanitis in horses 
and cows. 

Treatment. ■ — Try injections first, as in many cases I 
have cured this variety by this means alone. If gas or 
wind come away with the injection, the case will soon end 
well. When no benefit is derived from the injections, give, 
in a littte cold water, aloes in powder, one ounce ; sulphuric 
ether, one ounce ; tincture of opium, two ounces. If these 
measures fail in giving ease from pain, pour two ounces of 
chloroform on a small moist sponge, and hold it to the 




nostrils, not too closely, but admit a portion of air with the 
fumes of the chloroform (see Medicines). The sponge 
may be placed in a towel, and the ends carried up around 
the nose of the horse, to save waste ; or place the sponge- 
in the bottom of a nose-bag, and put it on the head, but 
not too close upon the nose. 

Last Remedy. — It must be confessed that the longer 
this disease is unrelieved, the more remote is the chance of 
recovery, as the bowel sometimes contracts upon itself, or 
nearly closes altogether. To overcome this condition an 
operation is recommended, which I do not say will be a 
success, nor yet a failure. When it failed in my hands, it 
was not because the gas was not let out of the bowels, but 



4IO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

because the blood had become so disintegrated, and the 
nervous centers so paralysed, that the sanative powers of 
the constitution had received too great a shock to ever 
rally again. 

The Operation. — Procure an instrument, called a tro- 
car. If this be not at hand, sharpen a breakfast knife, and 
measure an equal distance from the haunch bone and the 
short rib, and not too high upon the back; force the knife 
into the distended bowel, and turn the knife in the wound 
thus made, and hold it there until all the imprisoned gas 
has escaped ; and as the gas sometimes still accumulates, 
keep the knife or instrument in the wound, if it be for half 
a day. When the knife or instrument is taken out, place a 
piece of sticking plaster over the wound. 

Stones, or hair calculi, are often found, after death, in 
the bowels of horses subject to colic. I have seen six 
taken from one mare that I had under treatment. Remem- 
ber, the great principle in the treatment of colic, in all its 
forms, is to relieve pain. This also holds good in most 
diseases of horses. The doctor, if he fail to allay pain, 
cannot cure the disease. 



Stercoral Colic. 



Similar to the above variety, but continues longer, and 
is not quite so severe or painful. 

Causes. — Impaction or constipation of the bowels. 

Treatment. — Powdered aloes, one ounce; tincture of 
aconite root, twenty-five drops ; chloroform, half an ounce. 
Mix in a bottle of ale or porter, and give in a drench out 
of a horn, or stout bottle. The aconite will have to be 
given every four hours, till the pain has given way. 
Encourage the operatton of the aloes by injections every 
hour. 



LIVE STOCK. 



411 



Curb. 

One of the many diseases of the hock-joint, and con- 
sists in a swelling immediately below the point of the 
hock-joint, and is the result of sprain of the posterior 




straight ligament ; is more frequent in horses with the 
hocks inclining forwards. The treatment best adapted is 
the ointment of the red iodide of mercury, which is a 
counter-irritant. Apply about the size of a hickory-nut in 
quantity every sixth day for a few weeks, occasionally 
greasing or oiling the parts to prevent the skin cracking. 



412 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Simple Diarrhea. 



Consists of a looseness, or fluid condition of excrement, 
from something irritant in the bowels, and which does not 
freely pass away. When this condition is present, and no 
pain, griping or pawing as in colic, it may be well let 
alone. 

Continued Diarrhea. 

This is often the case when irritation does not pass 
away with the offending matter, and the bowels continue to 
discharge a thin fluid. There is slight pain or colic. When 
this is the case, suspect some irritant poison. 

Treatment.— Yxom. whatever cause the diarrhea may 
arise, treatment that will allay pain is demanded. First, 
give twenty to twenty-five drops of the tincture of aconite 
root in a little cold water. Then give the following powder 
every two hours, until a change for the better has taken 
place: Prepared chalk, half an ounce ; catechu in powder, 
one drachm; opium in powder, ten grains. Allow the ani- 
mal plenty of water to drink, which will help to keep or 
allay irritation, or what disposition there may be to inflam- 
mation. Bran mashes should be given for a few days, so 
as to overcome the effects of so much drying or binding 
medicine. Cake meal, or ground flaxseed, will be an excel- 
lent assistant in this particular. 

Food. 



I. All horses must not be fed in the same proportions, 
without due regard to their ages, their constitutions, and 
their work. Because the impropriety of such a practice is 
self-evident. Yet it is constantly done, and is the basis of 
disease of every kind. 



LIVE STOCK. 413 

2. Never use bad hay on account of its cheapness. 
Because there is not proper nourishment in it. 

3. Damag-ed corn is exceedingly injurious. Because it 
brines on INFLAMMATION of the bowels and skin diseases. 

4. Chaff is better for old horses than hay. Because 
they can chew and digest it better. 

5. Mix chaff with corn or oats, and do not give them 
alone. Because it makes the horse chew his food more 
and digest it better. 

6. Hay or grass alone will not support a horse under 
hard work. Because there is not sufficient nutritive body 
in either. 

7. When a horse is worked hard his food should chiefly 
be oats and corn ; if not worked hard, his food should 
chiefly be hay. Because oats and corn supply more nour- 
ishment and flesh-making material than any other kind of 
food. Hay not so much. 

8. For a saddle or coach-horse, half a peck of sound 
oats and eighteen pounds of good hay are sufficient. If the 
hay is not good, add a quarter of a peck more oats. A 
horse that works harder may have rather more of each ; 
one that works little should have less. 

9. Rack feeding is wasteful. The better plan is to feed 
with chopped hay, from a manger. Because the food 
is not then thrown about, and is more easily chewed and 
digested. 

10. Sprinkle the hay with water that has salt dissolved- 
in it. Because it is pleasing to the animal's taste, and more 
easily digested. [A teaspoonful of salt in a bucket of water 
is sufficient.] 

1 1. Oats and corn should be bruised for an old horse, 
but not for a young one. Because the former, through age 
and defective teeth, cannot chew them properly ; the young 
horse can do so, and they are thus properly mixed with the 
saliva, and turned into wholesome nutriment. 

12. Grass must always be cut for hay before the seed 



4I4 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

drops. Because the juices that ripen the seed are the most 
valuable part of the hay. If they are sucked out by its 
ripening and dropping, the grass will not turn into hay, but 
will only wither and grow yellow. 

13. Vetches and cut grass should always be given in 
the spring to horses that cannot be turned out into the 
fields. Because they are very cooling and refreshing, and 
almost medicinal in their effects ; but they must be supplied 
in moderation, as they are liable to ferment in the stomach 
if given largely. 

14. Water your horse from a pond or stream, rather 
than from a spring or well. Because the latter is generally 
hard and cold, while the former is soft and comparatively 
warm. The horse prefers soft, muddy water to hard water, 
though ever so clear. 

15. A horse should have at least a pail of water, morn- 
ing and evening; or (still better) four half-pailfuls, at four 
several times in the day. Because this assuages his thirst 
without bloating him. But he should not be made to work 
directly after he has had a full draught of water ; for diges- 
tion and exertion can never go on together. 

16. Do not allow your horse to have warm water to 
drink. Because, if he has to drink cold water after grettinof 
accustomed to warm, it will give him the colic. 

17. When your horse refuses his food, after drinking, 
go no further that day. Because the poor creature is 
thoroughly beaten. 

Thrush, 



Thrush. — A diseased condition of the sensitive frog of 
the foot, and from which a stinking fluid is discharged, 
which is familiar to every person who is among horses. 

Causes. — Too much moisture to the foot, as from ani- 
mals standing in their own e.xcreta, or from wet stabling, 
the frog becoming perverted, and deteriorating, and secre- 



LIVE STOCK. 415 

ting or discharging a blackish colored and otherwise nasty 
fluid. It sometimes accompanies navicular disease. 

Prevention. — -Dry stabling, a stall having sufficient in- 
clination or drainage to carry off the fluids. Cleaning the 
stables regularly. 

Treatment. — -A few drops of muriatic acid forced into 
the center of the frog once a day, for a few days. Keep 
the stables and stalls dry and clean. A few doses of the 
sulphite of soda in half ounce doses, once a day, for a few 
days, will do good by its alterative and puritive effects upon 
the system. 

Acute Pounder. 



Every school-boy is familiar with the name of founder 
when applied to a lame horse, but few horsemen ever com- 
prehend the nature and seat of this affection. Founder in 
all its forms is inflammation of the laminae or leaves, which 
dove-tail into each other, and bind the sensible and insen- 
sible portions of the foot together. Hence, it is called by 
some learned persons in diseases of horses lamtjtitis, by 
adding the Greek word ttis. Founder is again called by 
some persons fever in the feet. However, as to names, 
the disease is of often occurrence, and when left to itself, 
destroys many good horses by leaving them ever afterward 
sore and tender m front, as the horsemen have it. 

Symptoms. — The horse will scarcely move ; stands upon • 
his heels, with fore feet and legs stretched out as far he can 
get to throw the weight off them. Thus, to all appear- 
ances, making the animal hollow in the breast, which 
appearance has given rise to the idea that the horse is 
chest foundered. The hind legs are brought far under the 
belly. The head of the horse is erect and high. Fever 
and constitutional disturbance are very great. The horse 
is extremely excitable, and breathing fast and laborious. 
Altogether, the poor suffering horse is the very picture of 
distress and disease. 



4l6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Ca2ises.— Giving cold water when overheated and tired 
from overwork. A tendency in the feet to take on inflam- 
matory action. The animal not in proper health or condi- 
tion for performing heavy or fast work. 

Treat7nent. — Place the horse in a wide and airv stall, 
with plenty of good straw for bedding, to encourage the 
horse to lie down, which will relieve him very much. In- 
deed, so much is this the case, that it has been recommended 
that every foundered horse should be forcibly thrown and 
kept down till the active stage of the disease has passed 
off. This, however, I do not advise, as the horse is excited 
enough, without increasing it by throwing him from his 
feet. Rather give good bedding, and the majority of horses 
so affected will be ready and willing to lie down of their 
own accord. After the place is all fixed and the horse 
moved into it, give him twenty drops of the tincture of 
aconite root in a cupful of cold water, poured into the 
mouth with a bottle having a strong neck. Repeat the 
dose every four hours, till six to eight doses have been 
given. Apply cold ice-water cloths to the feet. »In a few 
hours, possibly, the shoes can be taken off. At first, this 
generally cannot be done, except the animal is down. Care 
should be taken in removing the shoes, so that every nail 
is made loose before an attempt is made to pull off the 
shoes. Have as little hammering on the foot as possible, 
as it will shake the great and over-sensitive frame. Let 
the cold water be kept on constantly for the first day, or 
until the active pain gives way. At leisure, the feet can be 
pared thin on the soles, so they will yield to pressure with 
the fingers. By getting the animal to lie down as soon as 
possible after he gets in, the cold water cloths applied, and 
the aconite given, the animal, in a day or two, may be noth- 
ing the worse from the attack. The longer the animal 
remains before these remedies are applied, the less likely 
is he to be free from its effects afterwards. Before the 
horse is again put to work, be assured he has quite recov- 



LIVE STOCK. 417 

ered. During the treatment, give plenty of cold water to 
drink. Never give tepid water to a horse while he is sick 
from disease. Give grass or soft mashes for a day or two, 
but do not keep a sick horse too long on low feed, as de- 
bility and swelling of the legs and various portions of the 
body will take place. 

Remember. — Do not bleed, neither from the neck, nor 
foot, nor from any place else, in a disease of this kind. 

2. Chronic Founder. — Symptoms, Cause and Treat- 
ment will be much the same, only it will not be necessary 
to push the treatment so far. Principally depend upon 
softening the horn of the feet, paring the soles of the feet, 
and a few days' rest. The horse, for a week or two after- 
wards, should be placed in a stall having six inches of saw- 
dust spread over it, and kept a little moist with water poured 
over it once in a day. When horses are recovering from 
acute founder, they also might be placed in a stall so pre- 
pared. Clay stalls are objectionable. 

Grease. 



This is a disease of the heels and legs of horses, char- 
acterized by an unsightly condition of the parts. The 
whole being the result of suppurative inflammatory action 
of the skin and heels of the hind legs, usually, but some- 
times of the fore ones ; is more common in coarse-bred 
Western horses, and heavy breeds, than in well or fine-bred 
horses. 

Cause. — Sudden changes of the temperature of the 
earth, whether from heat to cold, or from wet to dry. This 
disease always follows sloppy or wet streets, stables or 
lands, producing a relaxed condition of the parts from too 
much moisture. 

Treatment. — Keep the legs clean and dry, and apply a 
mixture to the heels twice in the twenty-four hours. 



4l8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Water, one pint ; sulphuric acid, two drachms ; corrosive 
chloride of mercury, one drachm. Mix, and shake up 
before using. Many cases are readily cured, by simply 
keeping- the heels clean, and anointing- -with glycerine, or 
lard, having no salt in it. It must be confessed by every- 
body, who has had any experience at all in the treatment 
of this disease, that there is uncertainty of an early cure; 
some cases will be cured in a short time, and in others it 
would seem that the discharge would never dry up and be 




healed. For cases that prove obstinate, the following plan 
will effect a cure, when other vaunted remedies have failed: 
Take one box of concentrated lye, and dissolve it in two 
quarts of water, and bottle up for use when wanted, in the 
following way: Pour a wine-glassful of the solution of lye 
into a small bucket of cold water, and wash and bathe the 
heels and legs for half an hour, morning and night. A 
great change for the better will be seen in a day or two. 
This wash seems to have the power of relaxing and soften- 
ing the skin, and at the same time causes the legs to sweat 
greatly. Dry them as often after the bathing as you like. 



LIVE STOCK. 419 

there will pour out great quantities of moisture from the 
skin as soon as you have done 

Heaves. 



■This is a term in frequent use, but not so well under- 
stood as it ought to be, seeing its importance as to the 
proper value of an animal. Heaves, then, may be defined 
as a difficulty in breathing, whereby the value and useful- 
ness of the horse is seriously impaired. There is every 
degree of intensity to be seen in this disease. Some 
animals are so seriously affected, that it is hard to look at 
the terrible efforts made in the art of respiration. The 
deep and not suffered-to-be-completed respiration tells the 
tale of great asthmatic effort and oppression. In others, 
it is so slight that only experts can observe it; not from the 
quickness of breathing, nor yet from its depth, but from a 
peculiar double beat or hitch, differing from all other varie- 
ties of breathing, either of fever, inflammation, or debility. 

Causes. — Debility of the parvagum nerve; for if this 
nerve is divided or cut in its course, heaves, or broken 
wind, is set up at once. The real condition of this nerve, 
which gives rise to heaves, is not at present known; and it 
is difficult, in many cases, to trace and distinguish any 
alteration of the nerves, as they may retain their color, yet 
their influence may be greatly impaired. For two reasons 
I have said debility. First, because, if it was cut, or had 
entirely lost its influence, the animal would die in forty- 
eight hours. Second, because, by the administration of 
powerful tonics, the symptoms of the disease are greatly 
relieved, and in some cases they entirely disappear. 

Treatment. — Horse-dealers, in order to allay the 
symptoms, that is, the peculiar breathing, give an ounce 
each of powdered sulphate of iron, gentian and ginger 
root. It is the largeness of the dose that is given, and 



420 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

repeated for a few days, that imparts a tonicity to the 
nerve. Although 1 have here spoken of this matter, I do 
not vvish to be understood as advocating such treatment, 
nor as attempting to cheat or deceive any one; but the 
large dose of iron meets my decided disapproval, as being 
highly injurious to the horse — although the giving of 
round or spherical shot, as is practiced in England, is much 
worse. The treatment, whatever that may be, to do good 
permanently, must be a gradual and progressive improve- 
ment. Five grain doses of arsenic, given once in the 
twenty-four hours for two weeks ; then, after a week's 
intermission, commencing as before, will soon cure many 
cases. Give the animal feed in small bulk. Use as little 
hay, or rough feed, in large bulk, as possible. Improve 
the condition of the horse by every way or means, and you 
will relieve the animal. 



Hints on Humanity to Animals. 



I. Warm the bit in frosty weather, before putting it 
into the horse's mouth. 

Let the horse lick a little salt from your hands when- 
ever you offer the bit. 

3. Never startle a horse by striking him suddenly or 
unexpectedly. This caution is specially important if he has 
a blind bridle. 

4. Uniformly gentle treatment will secure faithful and 
steady work. Anger, severity, and sudden jerking, endanger 
your harness, vehicle, and your life, besides permanently 
injuring your horse. 

5. Be well provided with horse-blankets, particularly at 
night. If you are waiting for passengers, while you look 
out for your own comfort by a warm fireside, or in thick 
wrappers, see that your faithful brute companion is also 
protected from the chilly air. 



LIVE STOCK. 421 

6. Wash the inside of the collar frequently with castile 
soap suds, and when it has thoroughly dried, gently warm 
the leather and soak it with oil, so as to soften it. But do 

•not allow any oil to remain on the surface of the leather, 
unabsorbed. 

7. If the shoulders are tender, feverish, and disposed 
to chafe, they should be well rubbed, and afterwards washed 
with salt water. This should be done after unharnessing, 
so that the parts bathed may be dry before work is 
resumed. 

8. Do not be tempted by extra pay to overload your 
team. Overloading occasions blindness, spavin, splint, 
glanders, farcy, and other painful and fatal disorders, and 
thus risks the loss of your capital, besides injuring yourself 
by encouraging a cruel disposition. 

9. See that the harness fits easily in every part, and 
that the shoes are tight and well put on. If there are 
chains connected with any part of the harness let them be 
well covered with soft padded leather or fur. 

10. Let your tones, in addressing the horse, be always 
gentle, soothing, and pleasant. Pat him often, and encour- 
age every sign of attachment that he gives. 

11. Every truck, or other vehicle, should have a prop 
stick hung to the shafts, to relieve the burthen of the load 
whenever the team is standing-. 

12. Curry, rub, and clean well and thoroughly, at 
least once every day. The effect is worth half the feed. A 
dirty coat and skin, when the animal is deprived of exer- 
cise in pasture, and of rolling on the grass, cannot fail to 
produce disease. 

13. Never use a check rein. It is a false taste that 
thinks a horse more beautiful when his head is fastened in* 
an unnatural position. The bearing rein keeps a horse in 
a constant fret, makes him restless and uneasy, and often 
prevents him from recovering himself in case of a stumble 
or fall. 



422 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



14. Your stable should be perfectly level, or very 
slightly inclined, well lighted, well drained, well ventilated, 
and well protected from draughts, and from extremes of 
heat and cold. Keep the crib clean and free from dust, 
and keep the hay and other fodder as far from the stall as 
possible, so as to be away from the steam and breath of 
the animal. 




15. If you use ground feed, remember that at many of 
the mills and stores it is adulterated with marble or plaster 
of paris, or with the sweepings of canal-boats and barges. 

"Such adulteration not only robs your animals of nourish- 
ment, but produces stone, and shortens life. 

16. If you suspect adulteration, you can sometimes 
detect it by heating a portion of the feed to a red heat, in 
an iron vessel. After the whole has been reduced to 



LIVE STOCK. 423 

ashes, if they contain plaster, the ashes will soon set or 
harden, after being mixed with water to the consistency 
of paste. 

17. In hot weather, keep a wet sponge on the head of 
the horse or mule ; cool the mouth and face with wet 
sponges ; furnish drinking water often, and sponge the legs 
and such parts as are liable to chafe by perspiration or 
otherwise ; drive slowly, and lessen the weight usually 
imposed in cooler weather; see that the harness is not 
unnecessarily cumbersome and heavy ; the discomfort may 
be materially relieved by taking off the eye-blinds, which 
are useless appendages, and cause much annoyance to the 
animal. 

18. Do not urge your beast beyond a walk when the 
heat is oppressive ; finally, use a head-shelter or awning, 
constructed of wire and covered with canvas, which can 
be attached to the animal's head without materially adding 
weight. 

19. In icy weather keep your animal sharp shod, renew- 
ing the sharpening as often as the shoes become blunt. 
A few dollars expended in this way will undoubtedly save 
your horse from serious injury, and, perhaps, from loss of 
life. 

20. Standing on fermenting manure softens the hoof, 
produces thrush, and brings on lameness. Keep the litter 
dry and clean, and cleanse the stall thoroughly every 
morning. 

21. Sharp bits make the mouth tender at first, and 
afterwards callous, so that the horse becomes unmanage- 
able. 

22. If your horse kicks and plunges on mounting, look 
to the stuffing of your saddle, and see if it has become 
hard and knotty with use. 

23. Keep your wheels well greased, and thus reduce 
the labor of drawing the load. 

24. Keep the feet well brushed out, and examme 



424 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

every night to see if there is any stone or dirt between the 
hoof and the shoe. Change the shoes as often as once a 
month. 

25. Disease or wounds in the leet or legs soon become 
dangerous if neglected. 

26. When a horse is hot and fatigued from labor, walk 
him about till cool ; groom him quite dry, first with a wisp 
of straw, and then with a brush ; rub his legs well with the 
hand, to detect any strain, soothe the animal, and detect 
thorns and splinters ; and give him his grain as soon as he 
is cool, dry, and willing to eat. 

27. On the evening before a long journey give double 
feed ; on the morning of starting give only half a feed of 
grain, or a little hay ; on the road feed in small quantities 
about every two hours. 

28. When horses are long out at work provide them 
with nose-bags and proper food. The nose-bag should be 
leather at bottom, and of basket-work or open te.xture 
above. On coming home give a double feed of grain. 

29. Lead the horse carefully into and out of the stable. 
Accustom him to stand quite still till you are seated. Start 
at a walk, and go slowly the first and the last mile. 

30. Never use the whip if you can help it. It will then 
always be available as a last resource. 

31. Be always on your guard, just feeling the mouth 
with the bit, lightly and steadily. 

32. If a horse shies, neither whip him nor pat him, but 
speak encouragingly, and let him come slowly towards the 
object. 

^;^. If you value your own life, the lives of others, or 
your horse, never drive fast in the dark, or in a town. 

34. Never add your own weight to a load that is 
already heavy enough. Get off and walk when you 
ascend a hill. If you stop on a hill, put a stone behind 
the wheel. 



LIVE STOCK. 



425 



Inflammation 



Inflammation of the various portions or parts of the 
body will be found treated of under the name of the organ 
or part affected. 

Influenza. 

This is a name which is properly applied to an epizootic 
catarrh of frequent occurrence in the spring of the year. 




Indeed, it is very rare that we see a cold run its course as 
such, without some complication of one kind or another. 

Symptoms. — ^A chill or shivering fit, succeeded by 
increased heat of the body, with fever and irritation. Loss 
of appetite, cough, discharge of mucus from the nose, 
watering of the eyes, great prostration of strength, fol- 
lowed in a day or two with swellings of the legs, and, in 
bad cases, of the belly, breast, and in males, of the sheath; 
such is a true and succinct account of the symptoms of this 
disease. The symptoms will vary, as in other diseases, 
with the intensity of the affection. 



426 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Causes. — A subtle poison in the air, sudden changes in 
the dryness or moisture of the earth's surface, easterly 
winds, cold accompanied with dampness in the air. These 
are conditions which too often accompany or precede influ- 
enza, which differs from an attack of common cold, chiefly 
in the severity of its effect, causing more fever and greater 
debility. In England it was first observed in 1819, and 
again in 1832, and more or less ever since. In the United 
States it first manifested itself in 1856, and is still seen 
every spring and fall with symptoms more or less severe. 

Treatment. — The mortality in this disease is great, when 
treated according to the books which our publishers fre- 
quently issue — old English books, with new dresses cut to 
the fashion. Bear this in mind, when undertaking the 
treatment of a disease of this kind, that one step wrongly 
taken can never be recalled. Place the horse in a cool (not 
cold) and airy place, put a light covering upon him, and 
give him twenty drops of the tincture of aconite root in a 
little cold water, every four hours, till five doses are given. 
Place plenty of cold water before the horse so that he can 
drink as much as he wants. When the aconite has been 
all given, commence with fifteen-drop doses of the tincture 
of nux vomica, whicj) repeat every four hours, continuing 
it for a few days, and if the animal improves, and the appe- 
tite returns, nothing more in the way of medicine need be 
given. Recovery being slow, and the appetite poor, give 
the following powders, morning, noon and night : Pow- 
dered carbonate of ammonia, three ounces ; powdered 
gentian root, two ounces; powdered pimenta berries, two 
ounces; mix, and divide into twelve powders, and give 
them mixed in a little cold water, and drench the horse out 
of a strong-mouthed bottle. The powders will have to be 
wrapped well, so as to keey them from the air, and prevent 
the loss of their strength. Twenty drops of commercial 
sulphuric acid may be given occasionally, in half a bucket 
of cold water, which the horse will readily drink. Do not 



LIVE STOCK. 427 

apply blisters or anything to the throat, as is too often 
done ; they can do no good, but positively much harm. Be 
assured the animal has fully recovered its strength before 
putting to work. If treated in the manner described, in 
from five to six days the horse will be almost well again. 



Hide Bound. 

This, properly speaking, is not a disease, but the 
symptom of a bad condition, "out of sorts," debility, etc. 

Treatment. — Feed in large bulk, mixed feed — cut hay, 
corn meal, and bran in good proportion — with no more 
water than will keep the particles together. Give the 
following powder in feed every night, for twelve nights: — 
Powdered sulphate of iron, three drachms ; powdered 
gentian root, four drachms. Mix. If the animal is fat and 
yet hide bound, substitute the following, instead of that 
above recommended : Take sulphuret of antimony, three 
drachms ; sulphur in flower, three drachms ; sulphite of 
soda, half an ounce. Mix, and give in one dose, repeating 
it every night for two weeks. If in the winter, use an extra 
blanket. If in summer, give cut grass to eat. 



Ring-Bone . 

This is a serious affection, and consists of a circle of 
bone thrown out from the underlying bone. Sometimes, 
in addition to this, the cartilages of the foot are converted 
into bone, and laid in the form of a circle ; and hence its 
name, ring-bone. It is most common in the fore-legs of 
heavy, coarse-bred horses, with short and straight-up pas- 
tern joints. When it occurs in fine-bred horses, it is usually 
the hind leg which is affected. Ring-bone does not always 
cause lameness. 



428 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Cause. — Hereditary predisposition, from a peculiar for- 
mation of pastern-joints, which are found not well adapted 
to hard work; and hence an effort of nature is set up to 
strengthen parts which are too weak, by converting an 
elastic substance into a hard and unyielding mass, and a 
moving hinge into a fixture. 

Treatment. — If it is of recent origin, and the horse is 
young, much may be done in the way of a cure, by first 
removing, all heat and inflammation by cold water cloths 
wrapped round the parts for three days, taking them off 
at night. At the end of that time, get one drachm of the 
bin-iodide of mercury, mix with one ounce of lard, and 
apply one-half of the salve by rubbing it in well for ten 
minutes. Tie up the horse's head for a few hours, and 
the next day wash off with soap and warm water, daily 
anointing the parts with lard or oil for a week ; then apply 
the remainder of the salve in the same way, and proceed as 
before. In old horses not much can be done with ring- 
bone, as the bones of old animals contain so much earthy 
(lime) matter that nothing can act upon it. 



Spavin. 



A VARIETY of disease affecting the hock-joint. Spavin is 
not now looked upon as in the days of Oliver Goldsmith 
and William Shakspeare, because in the minds of those dis- 
tinguished men, and of some of their readers of the present 
time, spavin is an enormous enlargement of the hock of the 
horse ; whereas, in some of the worse forms of spavin there 
is no enlargement at all, while the hock-joint is completely 
destroyed, stiff, or anchylosed. Shakspeare thus refers to 
Petruchio's horse: — "His horse hipped with an old mothy 
saddle, the stirrups of no kindred ; besides possessed with 
the glanders, and, like to mose in the chine, troubled with 
the lampas, infected with the fashions, full of wind galls, 



LIVE STOCK. 429 

sped with spavins, raised with the yellows, past cure of the 
fives, stark spoiled with the staggers, begnawn with the 
bots, swayed in the back, and shoulder shotten, ne'er 
legged before, and with a half-checked bit, and a head stall 
of sheepe's leather." 

Bog Spavin. — This kind of spavin is situated in front 
of the hock-joint, and is a soft, fluctuating swelling, which 
rarely ever causes lameness. It is merely an enlargement 
or distention of the bursal cavity of the joint, and is filled 
with the natural fluid of the joint, but increased in quantity 
and possibly, in some cases, a little changed in quality 
also. 

Blood Spavin. — This is the same as bog spavin, but 
more extensive, and generally involving the hock-joint on 
its three sides, front, inside, and outside, and giving to the 
limb a thick, rounded appearance, called thorough-pin 
(which see). The swelling is soft and fluctuating, and 
indeed there is no perceptible difference in the nature and 
result of this form of spavin, and the preceding variety 
beyond its being more extensive, interfering, perhaps, with 
the flow of blood in the sub-cutaneous (under the skin) vein, 
which is seen in front, and partly to the side of the joint, 
adding very little to the general swelling. 

Causes. — Hard work and fast driving, especially when 
horses are young. 

Treatment. — The application of the ointment of red 
iodide of mercury, in the hands of some, has done much 
good ; but the enlargement is apt to return when the horse 
is again put to work, from the fact that more joint-oil, or 
fluid is poured out. Acupuncturation, or forcing small steel 
instruments into the swelling to let out the fluid, is some- 
times resorted to, after which a bandage or truss is fitted 
to the part to press out the fluid that remains, and to cause 
the adhesion of the parts together. The difficulty in curing 
soft spavin is the danger of opening into a cavity or joint 
containing oil (synovia). An old way of treating such 



430 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

disease is by striking the parts with a mallet, so as to break 
the skin, that the fluid can escape ; the blow given to the 
skin being so great as to set up adhesive inflammation, and 
a closure of the opening. 

Bone Spavin. — Consists in the sprouting out of irregu- 
lar bony matter from the bones of the joint, preventing 
their smooth and proper action over one another, and 
causing lameness. This bony growth sometimes attains 
a good size, and in some cases we find one or two of the 
bones only involved; in others nearly all of them are 
affected. The situation of bone spavin is on the inside, 
and in front of the joint. 

Symptoms. — When horses are what is called breeding 
bone spavin, ordinarily persons think and say the lame- 
ness is on the hip (see Hock), from the action which is 
reflected by the muscles of the hip at every movement 
made by the hock-joint, and from the fact that there is no 
enlargement as yet in the joint. The horse is lame on 
starting, but gets better after a little while, and after 
standing will start lame again. In the stable, he shifts one 
hind leg after another, and when resting the lame leg, 
he stands on the toe. Pain and lameness cease when 
the joint is consolidated, although remaining a little stiff. 

Occult Spavin. — This is a disease similar to bone 
spavin, the difference being that there is no enlargement 
of the joint whatever, although the bones of the joint are 
all diseased, immovable and stiff. This seems to puzzle 
and perplex horsemen, because they cannot comprehend a 
bone spavin without an enlargement of the joint outside ; 
and, consequently, the poor horse is sometimes blistered 
and tormented in every part of the leg, but the right place. 
The cause, results, and effects of this disease are the same 
as in bone spavin, excepting that there is no enlargement. 

Treatment. — For the two varieties of spavin just de- 
scribed, the treatment should be the same. In young 
horses, the red iodide of mercury in ointment is the proper 



LIVE STOCK. 431 

treatment. One drachm of bin-iodide of mercury and one 
ounce of lard. Mix, and apply once in a week, and lard 
the parts once a day, till the next application. 

Old horses should have a liniment applied, once every 
second clay, to the parts. Oil of olives, two ounces ; oil 
of turpentine, one ounce; creosote, one ounce ; mix. This 
will relieve the pain, and to a great degree the lameness. 
Spavined horses should have an extra allowance of feed 
to keep them in condition equal to their more healthy- and 
fortunate neighbors. 

Splint. 



A SMALL bony enlargement, situated usually on the inside 
of the forelegs, about midway between the knee and the 
pastern joint. When splint begins to grow, it sometimes 
produces lameness by stretching the covering of the bone, 
which, however, soon accommodates itself to the altered 
structure. 

Cause. — Working horses when too young, and before 
the leg and splint bone have become united. Hence, 
splints disappear when the horse grows older, and the 
unity of these bones takes place. 

Treatment. — One or two applications of this ointment : 
Red iodide of mercury, or tincture of Spanish fly, one 
ounce ; oil of croton, twenty drops. Mix, and apply with 
rubbing. 

Stringhalt. 

This is an affection of the hind leg, and is known from 
the peculiar way in which the hind leg or legs are raised 
from the ground — a quick, spasmodic jerk. 

Cause's. — These are two-fold. First — The loss of 
nervous influence, whereby the extensor pedis muscle — - 
and possibly some others — is deprived of its proper power. 
Sccoiut — The peculiar anatomical articulation and general 



432 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

structure of the hock-joint of the horse are such that when 
the leg of a dead horse is stripped of its muscles the liga- 
ments are not disturbed at all ; and if the legs above and 
below the hock be caught hold of by the hands, and the 
leg straightened out, the moment the hands are taken from 
it, it will spring into a bent position, thereby imitating 
stringhalt, as near as can be. Thus the balance of power 
is not equal ; the articulary ligaments of the hock are 
stronger than the muscles of the thigh. Hence, the 
moment the horse lifts his foot from the ground, the leg is 
S7tatched up by the power of the articulating ligaments. 

Treatment. — Restore the lost nervous influence ; there- 
by the muscles of the thigh are to be brought into healthy 
action. This will best be done by good feeding, and one 
grain of strychnia nux vomica given daily, for six weeks, 
in the horse's feed. 

Sweenie. 



This word or name is so deeply buried in obscurity that 
researches in every quarter have failed to discover its ori- 
gin, or secure to it a satisfactory resurrection. It applies, 
however, when used by horsemen, to a falling away or 
shrinkage of the muscles of the shoulder, and indicates not 
so much a lameness in the shoulder as it does a disease 
elsewhere — in the foot or leg, as corns and disease of the 
pastern-joint. Atrophy should be substituted for sweenie, 
as it is generally sympathetic, and, moreover, means that 
the body or a part is diminishing in bulk. 

Treatment. — Remove the cause of atrophy or sweenie, 
and the effects will pass away. 

Worms. 



The worms which inhabit the body of the horse are of 
many varieties. Some of them are harmless, while others 
interfere with his health. They are: ist. T\i&\)Ot or csstr us 



LIVE STOCK. 433 

equi, found inhabiting- the stomach. 2d. The oestrus 
Hoemorrhoidalis or Fiuidament bot, found in the rectum, 
and often seen about the anus, and under the tail. 3rd. 
The strongyltis, and Filaria, found in the aorta,, and other 
blood vessels. 4th. The ascaridcs vcrniiciilaris, found in 
small cells within the mucous covering of the coecum, or 
blind gut. 5th. Filaria, found in the aqueous humor of 
the eye. 

Stomach Bot. — These worms are the result of turning- 
horses out to pasture in the summer months, and are pro- 
duced from the eggs laid or glued to the fore-legs of the 
horse, by the bot fly. 

Symptoms. — An unthrifty coat, and loss of flesh after a 
a run at grass, may be taken as an indication that bots are 
present within the stomach. 

Treatment. — Improve the condition of the horse, so 
that the debilitating effects of the bots' presence may not 
interfere with the general health and condition of the 
horse ; for it must be borne in mind that no medicine can, 
or will, dislodge or destroy these parasites short of killing 
the horse, also. Once the eggs are in the stomach, which 
seems to be the natural mirscry both for their protection, 
and the propagation of their species, they cannot be 
removed by force. In one year from the time the eggs are 
taken into the stomach, will the bot be a perfect chrysalis, 
and will fall from the coats of the stomach, and be expelled 
with the e.xcreta or dung. In a short time after, it will be 
provided with wings, and fly about, commencing the prop- 
agation of its species, which must pass through the same 
period of probation or incubation, as its progenitors. Give 
iron and gentian, in addition to good feeding, to prevent 
the bots from debilitating the animal too much. Take 
powdered sulphate of iron and gentian root, each three 
drachms ; mix, and make one dose, to be repeated twice a 
week. 



434 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Fundament Bot. — Like that of the stomach, but also 
the result of a run to the grass. Instead of the eggs being 
deposited upon the legs, they are stuck to tbe muzzle or 
lips of the horse, and are the color of the skin, hence not 
often seen. 

Sy7nptoms. — The following year, during the summer 
months, the larva of this species will be seen sticking 
about the anus and under the tail, which, in spirited horses, 
proves a source of great uneasiness and irritation. 

Treatment. — Injections of linseed oil or tobacco smoke. 




DisGRSGs ef Grttcg. 



Vl/HIS part of our worK is devoted to the explanation 
ff-^ and treatment of the various diseases affecting tlie 
ox, together witli an account of the diseases incident to 
milch-cows and young calves. 

Cattle diseases are, in many particulars, similar to those 
of the horse. Thus, inflammation, irritation, and fever, 




are common to all animals. Still, however, there are many 
diseases affecting cattle, in which we fail to find a counter- 
part in any disease attacking horses. Among such diseases, 
we may mention those of contagious typhus, or rinderpest ; 
epizootic aphtha, or the murrain ; splenic apoplexy, and 
q}iartcr evil, or the black leg. 

The manner or mode of treating disease m the ox differs 
no more from that employed in the case of the horse than 
one disease differs from another. For it must be remem- 



436 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

bered by every person who undertakes to give medicine to 
an ox or a cow, that they have four stomachs — -i, the 
nunc 11, or paunch ; 2, the reticulum ; 3, the manyplus ; 4, 
the abomasum. For this reason, or, as it were, peculiarity, 
cows or oxen should, under every condition, be treated 
with medicine in a fluid form only, so that it may pass 
from one stomach to another without injury, and in the 
shortest possible time. By giving medicine in the form of 
a solid— 2ls is sometimes given to the horse — in place 
of its finding the way into any of the stomachs, it is more 
likely to break through the floor of the ccsophagcan canal 
(a platform at the bottom of the gullet), thus not only 
losing the medicine, but, at the same time, destroying the 
animal. 

Abortion. 



An affection peculiar to cows, and chiefly attacking 
those that are kept in the neighborhood of cities and large 
towns, and in the vicinity of cheese factories. It is rarely 
seen to any extent in the herds of the breeder and agri- 
culturist. It consists in the cow parting with her calf at 
any time between the first month of conception and the 
last month of gestation. 

Premonitory Symptoms. — By these the event is at 
times clearly foreshadowed. They are extremely decep- 
tive and uncertain, however, and differ materially with the 
cau'se of the trouble. In those cases which resemble an 
epizootic (epidemic) disease in their course, a short, inaudi- 
ble, involuntary cough is observed, while, by auscultation 
of the neck, a slightly roughened sound will be heard in 
the bronchia, accompanied by weakness of the body. 
Indeed, the symptoms of this occurrence, when not oi spo- 
radic origin, are weakness and debility. This debility and 
weakness, to most persons, will prove deceptive, because 
the blood is, or has gone under a morphological change ; 



LIVE STOCK. 



437 



and then, and then only, do the calf attachments to the 
womb or uterus of the mother separate. The cow brightens 
up, and feels as it were a life de nova, though carrying her 
dead offspring — which she will continue to do till the fresh 
stimulus given by the blood that formerly gave life to the 
calf enables her system to contract the womb, and thereby 
expel the foreign body. 

Causes. — These should not have remained so long a 
mystery, when we consider how difficult and unreasonable 
it is for us to expect the cow to thrive and do well when 




placed in an anomalous condition — one totally foreign to 
her species — a "factory hand," as much so as the veriest 
operative in the mills of Lowell and Lawrence. The true 
causes, to be brief, are— i. Feeding upon slop or other 
milk-secreting materials. 2. Insufficient feed of whatever 
description. 3. The attempted reproduction of the specie?, 
whilst at the same time a drain is being made upon the 
system by an excessive and unnatural demand for milk. 
4. Irritation of the white membranes of the wind-pipe, 
changing and weakening the blood. 5. Exudative pleuro- 
pneumonia, or other debilitating disease. Any of the 
above named causes, singly or combined, when acting 
upon an animal placed at so great a disadvantage, as we 



438 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

have shown, will necessarily result in outraged nature 
choosing her great prerogative between life and death and 
the perfect propagation of her progeny. 

Prevention. — This can readily be done, as every intel- 
ligfent reader will conclude after reviewin;? the causes. It 
consists in : 

1. Feeding substantial feed, and enough of it, but not 
excessively sloppy or wet — for in this way, the bowels are 
kept too loose, relaxing the solids of the body, and thereby 
inducing over-secretion of milk at the expense of good 
health. 

2. Though the cow be unprofitable, allow some feed, 
gradually increasing it in quality, and, if necessary, in 
quantity, as she approaches the time of calving. By this 
means the extra demands of nature in the increasing size 
and wants of the calf will be supplied without at all affect- 
ing the health or strength of the mother — thus insuring a 
natural parturition. 

3. Dry up the milk in all cows that do not, in the nat- 
ural order of things, stop secreting milk, say three months 
preceding their time of calving, by giving sulphate of iron, 
three drachms, in powder, combined with gentian root ; 
also, in powder, half an ounce, once daily, mixed in feed, 
for a week to ten days. No milking should be done, other 
than to prevent injury to the udder if it becomes dis 
tended. 

4. If there is a cough peculiar to more than one or two 
cows, allow plenty of good food, with two drachms of the 
sulphate of iron, and half an ounce each of ginger and 
gentian, twice daily, to keep the blood in its normal state, 
to prevent relaxation of the solids of the body terminating 
in exudation, and to promote absorption. 

When any of the cows have been sick of pleuro-pneu- 
monia or other disease, cure them and keep up the strength 
by tonics and a generous diet, always bearing in mind that 
it is poor policy and worse economy to starve animals, 



LIVE STOCK. 439 

especially when suffering from disease. Thus we have 
mapped out a plan, which, if faithfully followed and put in 
practice, will accomphsh what it is intended to do; and if, 
in the opinions of others, I am in any way mistaken, I can 
only say, as did Luther at the diet of Worms, " Hicr stche 
ich, ich kann nicht anders. " 

Sporadic Abortion. — This variety is the result of acci- 
dent and disease of the womb itself, and is not to be con- 
founded with abortion arising from causes named in the 
preceding article. 

Abortion Before Viability. — A variety of abortion 
occurring within a few weeks of pregnancy, caused by irri- 
tation and excitement of the uterus. To prevent a recur- 
rence of the annoyance, change the pastures or feed of the 
cows before putting the bull among them. 

Remarks. — It will no doubt be remarked that the views 
herein expressed seem to differ with opinions already 
given, to some extent, to the public. They are neverthe- 
less the same in substance that we have heretofore enter- 
tained, and they have given satisfaction to all who have 
faithfully put them to test. Hundreds of cows in Pennsyl- 
vania, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, have not only been 
prevented from aborting their calves, but prevented from 
pleuro-pneumonia, also, when both were in the herd at the 
same time, and immediately preceding the use of iron, etc. 

In this connection, we would refer the reader to a lec- 
ture by the Hon. W. I. Skinner, of Little Falls, N. Y., in 
1868, in which was shown the loss of nine calves by 
abortion, whereas in the use of iron, etc., the trouble was 
at once arrested. To those who at any time may have 
found no relief from its use, if there be any such, we can 
only say that the fact must be attributable to misapplica- 
tion, adulteration, bad material, or, peradventure, some 
other cause. We would ask such persons " Do they not 
find it as profitable to draw milk year in and year out from 



440 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the machine without interruption — which can be occasion- 
ally done by the cow aborting — as from cows carrying 
their calves to full time, and the consequent loss of three 
months' millk (although an occasional cow remains dry as 
the result of abortion) when butter, cheese and milk com- 
mand so high a price?" 

The efforts of others to solve the apparent mystery sur- 
rounding the cause of abortion have been considerable, and 
the results have been invariably somewhat contradictory, 
negative, non-committal, or of questionable utility. Thus 
the New York State Agricultural Society, through its then 
president, J. S. Gould, presented a memorial to the Legis- 
lature of the State, setting forth the evil results recurring 
to the dairy interests of the State, and asking for an 
appropriation to defray the expenses of a commission to 
investigate the cause, and point out a remedy; also, assur- 
ing the Legislature that if the prayer was granted, certain 
veterinary surgeons and medical men in Philadelphia, etc., 
were likely to throw light upon the cause, and recommend 
a cure. Thus, at the very beginning of his efforts, Mr. 
Gould perpetrates a blunder ; for no veterinary surgeon or 
medical man from Philadelphia was employed on the com- 
mission. The choice of Mr. Gould was J. C. Dalton,.M. D., 
of New York, whose report of investigations and their 
results disappointed many persons who had entertained 
high expectations from it ; for it proved to be negative, and 
of little use to the dairy interest. The Society evidently 
was not satisfied with Dalton's report, for next year a new 
commission was formed, with W. H. Carmalt, of New York, 
at its head, but with no veterinary surgeon attached to it. 
His report was rendered in 1869, and though non-committal 
in character, it contained much valuable information to all 
interested in the dairy. Amongst the contradictions of the 
two reports, we will only mention that Dr. Dalton says a 
cow having once aborted \%four\Am^s, more likely to do so 
subsequently, and Dr. Carmalt says that she is about twice 



LIVE STOCK. 441 

as liable. Have they been guessing, or is this discrepancy 
merely the result of idiosyncrasy ? 

The experiments of X. A. Willard, Esq., — aleader>in all 
that pertains to excellency in dairy management — in feed- 
ing his cows "bone meal," are in the right direction, but do 
not go far enough, although apparently successful in pre- 
venting the recurrence of abortion. By substituting for 
bone meal that which contains more of the nutritious com- 
bined with the astringent in effect would be preferable ; but 
as we have already intimated, it goes a certain way in meet- 
ing one or more of the causes of the trouble. 



Prolapsus of the Bladder. 

Among cows, during and after difficult calving, there 
will be sometimes observed a white, shining, watery bag 
protruding between the lips of the vulva. This is the 
bladder holding the urine. It is twisted at its neck, and, 
therefore, cannot be emptied. Many a good cow has been 
destroyed by ignorant persons mistaking this for some of 
the watery membranes surrounding the calf, and, therefore, 
intentionally tearing it asunder. 

Treatment. — Carefully examine the distended bag, its 
shape, and size. Having determined that it is the urinary 
bladder, carefully cleanse it, if dirty, and pass the hand 
previously oiled along its surface, ascertaining which way 
the turn or twist is made. Having satisfactorily known 
this, take the bladder by the other hand and reverse the 
turn or twist, and then carefully push the bladder back into 
its place. 

Should the bladder again return, a tampon — a roll of 
soft cotton cloth — should be used to plug up the vulva for 
an hour or two. If this should not be sufficient, a stick 
or suture of stout saddler's silk, or other strong material, 
should be passed through each side of the vulva with a 



442 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

small packing or darning needle, and may be allowed to 
remain for a few days. 

Calving. 



This is an operation of nature, which most dairymen 
and farmers are familiar with, and upon which we will say 
comparatively little. Before we do this, however, a short 
description of the symptoms by which it is known when a 
cow is in calf, will be given. 

Syrnptoms. — The first and most important symptoms of 
a cow being with calf, is the absence of oestromania or 
bulling. This, however, is not altogether relied upon in 
some cows, for there are cases in which a pregnant cow 
will receive the bull up to the time of calving. The next, 
and probably the more sure sign of a cow being with calf, 
is the increased size of the belly. The hand placed firmly 
against the flank or portion, where there are no ribs ; a 
hard, firm body will be felt, which is the calf. As time 
passes along, the movements of the calf in the womb can 
occasionally be seen. Within a few weeks of calving, the 
external organs of generation — labia pndciidi — increase 
in size, and discharge a thick mucous. The udder becomes 
swollen, hot, and full of the first mifk — colostriiin — which 
is sure indication that the time for calving is near at hand. 
This is accompanied by a relaxation of the ligaments of 
the pelvis, or, as the dairymen say, "she is down in her 
bones." 

Symptoms of Ifnmediaie Delivery. — Great restlessness 
and uneasiness, showing by lying down and rising up, and 
increasing in severity, until she has been delivered of a 
calf. From the time of conception, till natural parturition 
or calving, it is about forty weeks, or two h indred and 
eighty days. 

There are, however, opinions at variance with these 
dates, founded upon the sex of the calf. If a male, it is 



LIVE STOCK. 443 

carried longer than if of the opposite sex. These opin- 
ions form ground for debate, therefore we will drop 
theorizing. 

Natural Calving. — This resembles the fruit when ripe, 
breaking from its attachment to the parent tree, and falling 
into the lap of mother earth. If the pelvic bones are well 
or proportionately formed in the cow, and the presentation 
and size of the calf be right, no trouble need be appre- 
hended, and the cow may be left to herself. The natural 
presentation at full time, and of a full grown calf, is as 
follows : The a7ftnio7t, or waterbag, having been ruptured 
or broken, there will be seen the fore legs and head of the 
calf resting upon the two feet, and protruding a little. If, 
however, the cow should labor long with the calf in this 
position, and she is weak and thin in flesh, she may be 
assisted. This can be done by taking hold of the two feet 
and part of the head, and when the cow makes an effort to 
strain, pull at the calf. If sufficient force cannot be applied 
by the hands, then place a soft but stout rope round the 
feet of the calf, and apply traction or force. Before any 
force whatever fs used, be sure that the mouth of the woml> 
is sufficiently dilated ; for if this be not the case, then by 
using force the womb is torn or ruptured, and the death of 
the cow is the result. Be patient, and time— -the prover 
of all things — will also prove the wisdom of waiting. If 
after delay, however, both cow and calf should be lost, be 
consoled by the fact that it is likely the one or both would 
have been lost any way ; for there will be found some one 
or other of these malformations, either in the pelvis or 
arch of the pubis of the cow, or an undue proportion of the 
size of the calf to the pelvic arch through which it is has 
to pass, to be delivered. In all cases where the calf 
presents itself in the form above described, and delivery is 
not effected, rest assured that the pelvic arch of the mother 
is too small or too narrow. If that be not the case, the calf 
is over size, from water in the head {Hydrocephalus) , or 



444 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

water in the belly {Dropsy), or both of these conditions 
combined, which is seen by veterinary surgeons, in large 
country practice. 

Before a calf of this description can be delivered, and 
the cow relieved, the head of the calf must be pierced, to 
lessen its size, then a long spear-like instrument — trocar — 
is used to pierce the belly or abdomen of the calf, to empty 
the fluid, to lessen also its great size. When that is prop- 
erly done, and the cow is not too greatly exhausted, she 
may complete the delivery without further assistance. 

Twin Calves. Twin presentations are as various as 

they are curious. Thus, we sometimes see a fore leg of 
one calf, and the hind leg of the other. In this condition 
of things, it must be evident that no force should be used 
to bring them away till each calf is properly adjusted in its 
position. The best and quickest way is to adjust the calf 
which first presents itself, and if portions of the other be 
presented also, push them back into the womb. When one 
calf is safely delivered, not much difficulty will be experi- 
enced with the other. 

Unnatural Presentation. — We have now arrived at 
that portion of our subject which, more plainly talking, has 
reference to when the calf is being forced into the neck of 
the uterus or womb in any form except the natural position 
already described. The unnatural position of calves, about 
to be delivered, is happily rare, and forms the exception to 
the natural law of presentation. However rare these pre- 
sentations are, they nevertheless are sometimes seen. Thus 
the feet are presented, and the head of the calf doubled 
on its neck, and in the womb. This condition is best reme- 
died by tying a rope round the fore feet, or both together, 
and raising the hind parts of the cow off the ground; thus 
forcing the calf down to the fundus, or bottom of the womb. 
This being done, reach the hand in and seize the calf by the 
head, and bring it with you, while an assistant is pulling 
upon the rope attached to the fore legs. 



LIVE STOCK. 445 

By adopting this plan a safe and speedy delivery will 
be effected. English veterinary surgeons, with Professor 
Simmonds at their head, say this is the most dangerous 
form of presentation, involving the life of both cow and 
calf. Why do they say so, and how does it prove so to 
them? Because they vainly endeavor by force to bring the 
head of the calf into the neck of the womb, when there is 
no room to do so, without first elevating the hind portion 
of the cow sufficiently for the calf to fall to the bottom of 
the womb, where there is plenty of room to turn, not only 
the head, but the whole of the body also. 

Another form of malformation is, where we have the 
head and neck within the neck of the uterus or womb, 
without the fore feet and legs. The only alternative in 
this case is to remove the head by cutting it off from the 
neck ; leaving, however, sufficient skin for attaching a rope 
to it. But if the head has not fairly passed out, an attempt 
should be made to put it back into the womb again, and 
not bring it out. Before pushing it back, fix a rope round 
the lower jaw. The legs one by one should be searched 
for by the hand, and when found secured by another rope. 
After both fore legs and head are thus fairly within the 
grasp, use traction or gentle force, and take advantage of 
every strain made by the cow, and by these means the calf 
will be safely delivered. 

The next unnatural form consists in the presentation of 
one or other of the fore legs, where the nose is pressed 
downwards, and the crown of the head only is seen or felt. 
Secure the leg which is seen by a cord, push on the crown 
of the head or elevate the hind parts of the cow a little, to 
force the calf slightly down in the womb ; then pass a cord 
round the lower jaw, and find the other fore leg, securing 
it by a rope. The rope attached to the jaw should be first 
pulled to straighten the head on the neck, then the cord 
attached to the legs should be pulled simultaneously, and 
the head and feet as they are presented should be guided 



446 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

by the hands of an assistant until the head and both fore 
legs have fairly entered the proper channfel. 

The next presentation is what is called a breech pre- 
sentation — the tail and buttocks are here presented for 
delivery, which, of course, cannot be effected in such 
position. The only chance of a safe delivery is to get 
hold of the hind legs, which is not easily effected ; but 
perseverance, assisted by ingenuity, can do much, when it 
is well known what is required. In this case, get hold of 
both hind legs, and when they have been secured, and 
brought into the proper channel, delivery can be easily 
effected. 

The next and last presentation which we notice, is where 
the crown of the head is presented, and the calf is lying 
upon its back. This is a tedious labor, and to effect a 
delivery at all, the calf must be turned, which, by the by, 
is not an easy task ; still, however, it can be done by 
securing the head and fore legs with a rope. Should all 
efforts fail, do not exhaust the strength of the cow, but 
hasten to detach the legs of the calf, opening its belly, and 
in some cases, the head also, to lessen its size, thereby 
securing the delivery Of a mutilated calf, but a living cow. 
The subject is far from being at this point exhausted, but 
we have gone sufficiently far for our pages. We will now 
proceed to another subject connected with calving, and 
that is the retention of the after-birth, or retcntio secundi- 
nariuni, as it is called, or, as the dairy folks say, the 
cleansing of the cow. 

Retention of the Placenta, or Afterbirth. 



If the cow has gone her full time with calf, and is in a 
healthy condition, the afterbirth will not be retained long 
after she has given birth to her calf When a cow does 
not clease properly, and within a reasonable time, there is 
then something otherwise wrong with her health, such as 



LIVE STOCK 447 

debility and want of vitality in the system. It ts this that 
must be looked to, and not the want of timely cleansing 
that demands attention, as being the cause of the cow not 
doing well after calving. Remedy these existing causes, 
and the cow will cleanse properly enough. Contrary to 
the generally received opinion of farmers and others, the 
retention of the afterbirth for a day or two will do no harm, 
provided that decomposition does not take place with the 
afterbirth ; for in such cases, the whole system of the cow 
is apt to be contaminated and poisoned. 

Treatment. — Cows not having cleansed properly within 
twenty-four hours after calving, should be given the follow- 
ing mixture : Epsom salts, one pound ; powdered ginger, 
one ounce ; powdered foenugreek, one ounce ; caraway 
seeds, half an ounce ; mix, and give in three or four bottles 
of warm ale, porter or warm water, sweetened with 
molasses. This mixture not having the desired effect in 
twelve hours, the hand, well greased should be introduced, 
and the afterbirth at the attachments, called cotyledons, 
gently pressed. This must not be accompanied with much 
pulling, as pressure with the finger and thumb will be all 
that is wanted. This operation may be followed by giving 
the cow a little warm ale or molasses water, with half an 
ounce of powdered ergot of rye ; and in half an hour, an 
additional half ounce. This will cause contraction of the 
womb, and expulsion of the placenta. When decomposi- 
tion or putrefaction of the afterbirth has taken place, which 
is known by the black color, the womb should be well 
washed out with a weak solution of chloride of lime. 
Administer, also, by the mouth, one ounce, three times in 
the day, of sulphite of soda for a week, to neutralize any 
of the poison of putrefaction that may have been absorbed 
into the blood. Give the cow good and nutritious feed to 
support her strength. 



448 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Choking. 



This is of frequent occurrence among cattle or cows fed 
on potatoes, turnips, etc. 

Treatment. — -When the potato is lodged in the upper 
or middle third of the gullet, the mouth of the animal is to 
be held open by means of a balling-iron, or some other 
contrivance, while a person, having a small hand, should 
pass a cord like a clothes-line, with a loop on the end of it, 
and try to get the noose over and beyond the obstruction. 
If the substance be low down in the gullet, manipulations 
may be tried from outside, by tightening the skin upon 
the obstruction, and trying to move it up, if possible, but 
downwards, if it will go without too great force being 
used. Failing to remove it either up or down, try to dis- 
lodge it by pouring small quantities of oil or melted lard, 
not hot, down the throat. If this also prove ineffectual, 
the probang should be used ; or in its stead, a strong, flex- 
ible cane or rattan may be tried ; but care should be taken 
to have the cane go down the right passage. If coughing 
is set up on the introduction of the cane, have it withdrawn, 
as it has entered the air passages ; but try till it has been 
properly entered down to the obstruction. With patience 
and perseverance, the difficulty will usually be overcome. 
Still, however, there are cases which require the gullet to 
be opened over the place of obstruction, a safe operation, 
requiring only a simple cut through the skin and outer sur- 
face of the gullet, which will readily heal without much 
trouble, by bringing the lips of the wound together, with a 
stitch or two of strong, but small, twine or saddler's silk, 
by means of a small packing needle. Feed the cow or ox, 
for a week or more, upon soft or prepared food till the 
wound has healed. When cows or oxen remain long in a 
choked condition, the throat is apt to swell from the accu- 
mulation of gas in the first stomach, which will have to be 



LIVE STOCK. 449 

treated as for hoven or tympanitis — occurring usually from 
eating clover or rank and wet grass. (See Hoven.) 



Loss of the Cud. 

This occurrence is the symptom of, and not a disease. 
Loss of the cud, or rumination, accompanies almost every 
disease of any importance attacking the ox or cow. When 
rumination has ceased for a time, and is resumed again, it 
is a good symptom that the animal is somewhat better, and 
an indication that the functions of the body are about being 
resumed again, and are demanding food for their nourish- 
ment. Loss of cud is among the first symptoms observed 
by farmers in case of bronchitis, pleuro-pneumonia, hoven, 
aphtha, etc. 



Simple Diarrhea. 



This variety does not call for much description, as it is 
only an effort of nature to get rid of something that is 
injurious. By its removal the purging will stop. Simple 
diarrhea rarely calls for treatment, but if it should, change 
of feed and pasture land will be the first things to be 
attended to ; and, if necessary, after a trial of new feed and 
pasture, a few powders composed of prepared chalk, two 
ounces ; ginger, half an ounce ; opium, one drachm, may 
be mixed and given in the form of a drench, with wheat 
flour gruel. Repeat the dose, if it be necessary, but never 
be in a hurry to give astringents in looseness of the 
bowels, as much mischief may be done by controverting 
the efforts of nature, which are always of salutary effect, if 
not too violent for the condition of the beast, and in that 
case interference is necessary. 



450 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Chronic Diarrhea. 



This condition is sometimes called- the Rot, from the 
belief that the animal is rotten. Chronic, or indeed, any 
kind of diarrhea should not be looked upon as a disease 
at all, but merely a symptom of internal irritation of some 
kind. 

Causes. — This is an important inquiry in cattle pathol- 
ogy, for farmers are sometimes disappointed when they 
are told the animal will die within a given time, not know- 
ing the nature of the disease of which diarrhea and dysen- 
tery are but the symptoms. Chronic diarrhea is the 
sequel to tuberculous consumption already described under 
that head ; or dysentery may show itself before even con- 
sumption is either thought of or recognized. However, 
chronic diarrhea or dysentery is the result of tubercles 
situated on, and in the white membranes throughout the 
body. 

Treatment. — Generous diet, composed of linseed or 
cake meal. Commercial sulphuric acid, gentian, and sul- 
phate of iroU; are the medicines employed. In addition to 
this treatment, which has already been recommended for 
consumption, I would advise weekly inhalations of sulphur- 
ous acid gas in the manner recommended under that head 
in the list of medicines ( which see ), for this is one of those 
diseases which will be greatly benefited by its proper 
use. 

Diarrhea in Calves. 



This is a frequent affection among young calves, and 
destroys thousands of them every year. 

Cause. — Depending upon the character of the milk ; not 
so much its quality as the time and manner of giving it. 
Thus, calves are not allowed to suck their own mothers ; 



LIVE STOCK. 451 

frequently they are not allowed to suck at all, but have to 
drink the milk out of a bucket, and then it is often cold 
before' they are allowed to have it. The rapidity with 
which they drink their allowance, which is often too much 
for them, gorges the stomach and paralyzes the digestive 
functions. Hence, the white diarrhea so often seen 
among young calves. 

Symptoms. — The symptoms one would think alike in all 
animals ; but this is not the case here, or so far as the 
diarrhoea of calves is concerned. They have voracious 
appetite, swelling of the belly with occasional pain, dis- 
charges of wind or gas, and white or yellowish-colored 
excrement or dung, while in some bad cases the true milk 
is passed unchanged by the action of either stomach or 
bowels. 

Prevention. — This is better than cure, and consists in 
allowing the calf, until several weeks old, to suck its own 
mother, not only morning and night, but at least three 
times in the day, dividing the periods as evenly as possible. 
Thus, by allowing calves to suck the milk for themselves, 
paralyzation and gorging the stomach with cold milk is 
avoided, and thereby white diarrhea prevented. 

Treatment. — Give three drachms of carbonate of soda in 
well boiled flour gruel once a day. If this is not conve- 
nient, give a tablespoonful of common rennet after each 
feed of milk the calf takes ; this will materially aid proper 
digestion by its power in decomposing the milk and fitting 
it for assimilation. 

Pleuro-pneumonia. 



Pleuro-pneumonia is a compound disease, as its name 
indicates — pleuro and pneumonia. My own opinion is, 
however, and it is almost a certainty, I think, that the sin- 
gle name pleurisy would cover the whole ground ; for the 
pathology of the disease unmistakably points to this one 



4S2' THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

fact, that the lungs are not affected as a disease from the 
beginning, but the soHd, spotted and mottled condition of the 
lungs are but the effects of disease of the pleural covering, 
and the consequent effusions of serum into the chest, float- 
ing and surrounding the lungs, together with weakness, 
low vitality, and debility of the animal affected. This, 
then, is the reason why the lungs have become diseased, 
and the consequent double name given to the affection. 

However much men may doubt it, this disease is noth- 
ing more than buccas inflammation, extending from the 
coverings of the mouth and nose down to the pleural mem- 
branes within the chest, speedily followed by an extensive 
outpouring of fluid called serum, and it is not till this fluid 
has accumulated in sufficient quantity that the evidences of 
disease show itself to the farmer or breeder. Cows are not 
so nervous, nor yet so excitable as horses, whether in 
health or sickness, and hence the absence of those symp- 
toms in the early stage of the disease in cows, which are so 
early shown in horses, when affected by the same sickness. 
Farmers should remember this, for in early detection lies 
often the life of the animal. 

Again, and in support of my theory, if the lungs were 
one of the primary seats of the disease, it would not be 
reasonable to expect the animal to live for a week, and in 
some cases a month, as is the case with animals affected 
with this disease. In no disease of the lungs, excepting 
tubercles, will animals live so long as those do when 
affected with pleuro-pneumonia, thus entirely disproving 
the theory universally entertained by those who have an 
idea to offer upon the subject. 

The length of time animals live with this disease, 
together with the serum, the condition of the luno-s, and 
the adhesions so often seen connecting the lungs with the 
sides of the chest, does not go to prove the incurability of 
the disease at all, as has been so often asserted ; but on the 
contrary, it goes to show the curability of the disease, and 



LIVE STOCK. 453 

the ignorance of those who have been guilty of so bold 
and unwarranted an assertion, thereby deceiving the honest 
cow -keeper and breeder to their great loss, and in some 
cases to their ruin. Pleuro-pneumonia then I take to be a 
disease similar to typhoid influenza in the horse, affecting 
the white membranes of the nose, mouth, windpipe and 
chest, speedily followed by outpouring of fluid into the 
cavity of the thorax or chest, gradually increasing in 
volume till the lungs are nearly submerged, solidifying 
them, thus arresting aeration, or proper oxygenation of the 
blood, together with sRreds of plastic lymph connecting 
and interfering still further with the action of whatever 
healthy lung there may be left : and thus by a gradual, but 
progressive process, the vital power gives way, and the 
poor beast dies from suffocation, or asphyxia, in from one 
week to two months or more ^depending if the cow be in 
calf, and what condition otherwise the animal may be in. 
The better the condition, the longer will they live, and the 
more likely are they to live, even without medicine, thus 
giving the lie to its incurability. 

Catise. — Some subtle poison in the atmosphere some- 
times, which is not always present ; sudden and severe 
changes in the temperature, cold, heat, dryness and moisture, 
easterly winds, and possibly some other conditions which 
may be present, but not recognized, and which give rise to 
what is called the predisposing cause, for since we have 
those various changes in the condition of the weather, with- 
out producing the disease, something is wanted in the ani- 
mal economy to act as a predisposing cause, hvo causes 
being necessary to produce epizootic disease, namely: the 
predisposing cause which resides in the system, and the 
exciting cause, which belongs to the atmosphere. Atmos- 
pheric cause is being clearly proven from the fact of the 
early symptoms of the disease being irritation of the 
mucous membranes of the nostrils, nose, eyes, etc. That 
this may be properly understood, let any person enter the 



454 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

too frequently over-heated lecture room or theater, with its 
impure air, and on coming out to the keen air of night, 
how readily the membranes of the eyes drop tears, and 
sneezing from irritation of the nose takes place. Pleuro- 
pneumonia being a disease chiefly attacking milch cows 
and working oxen, and rarely affecting herds of cattle in 
the field, we are carried back again in our inquiries to the 
cow-house, barn-yard and its surroundings. There we find 
the slop feed stimulating the cow to over secretion of milk, 
and at the expense of her general health and condition — 
the smoking and putrefying dung heap — the imperfect 
ventilation and over-heated stable — the giving of stimula- 
ting feed, and immediately after turning the heated cow out 
to the cold, and sometimes frozen watering trough, to 
quench her thirst. In one or other of these anomalies, or 
all combined, will be found the cause of this epizootic dis- 
ease — contagion, if it is really contagious, which I hon- 
estly doubt and even deny ; however, if so, then they can- 
not be the only exciting and predisposing causes of the 
disease. 

Symptoms. — As has been already stated, the early 
symptoms are irritation of the membranes of the nose, 
windpipe, etc. The symptoms of this irritation are not 
perceived by the farmer, till effusions of fluid are poured 
into the chest in considerable quantities, interfering with 
the movements of the lungs, and consequently the breath- 
ing or respiration ; then and then only does the farmer 
observe that the animal is sick. The presence of irritation 
in the windpipe can be detected by placing the ear close to 
the windpipe, previously tightening the skin upon it, when 
a slight grating sound is heard. The immediate effect of 
irritation ot the windpipe of the cow is a slight discharge 
of an acrid fluid, of the appearance of water, from the 
corners of the eyes and nose, which is, however, sometimes 
so slight that most persons fail to see it, and if they did, 
would attach no importance to it — so the first, and most 



LIVE STOCK. 455 

important time and symptom is passed by uncared for, 
unheeded and unchecked. The next and important symp- 
tom is a half involuntary cough, or rather a husking sound 
— not the clear cough which horses give when similarly 
affected. When cough is heard, it may then be said the 
incubative stage has passed away. I have said incubative, 
although not believing in the existence of such a thing, if 
it be not in ^h& passive condition of the minds of men, who 
give credence to such a theory. The milk now becomes 
smaller in quantity, thin and blue; cough louder and 
oftener ; breathing quick and labored, accompanied with a 
grunt ; rumination is irregular, and the appetite precarious. 
Such then are the symptoms that may be seen by the ordi- 
nary observer. Auscultation and percussion applied to the 
sides of the chest, are not to be relied upon by persons 
who are not accustomed to the chest murmurs, or sounds 
in health and diseases. Animals in good condition rally 
from the attack and get well, without assistance from med- 
icine or art. In weak and low conditioned animals, the 
disease and symptoms are gradual and progressive, and 
they finally die in from two weeks to two months. 

Treatmettt. — The success of the treatment here recom- 
mended, will depend upon: ist. Whether the animal be 
in good or low condition. 2d. Whether the cow be 
heavy with calf. 3d. Whether the disease has been dis- 
covered, and treatment applied in good season. These 
are important inquiries, having much depending upon them, 
for this disease is much more freqzicnt a.nA fatal'in cows 
heavy with calf, and animals in low condition. If the 
disease has been observed within forty-eight hours from 
the time of attack, give the following powders every four 
hours between six o'clock in the morning and at ten at 
night, or at six, ten, two, six and ten o'clock. 

Tincture of aconite root, two drachms and a half; pow- 
dered gentian root, three ounces ; powdered ginger root, 
three ounces; sulphate of iron, two ounces; mix well, and 



456 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

divide into five powders and give as above directed. After 
the five powders have been given, continue with the same 
powders, but without the aconite, and give them ovAy three 
times in the day, instead of five as above directed. Half 
an ounce of the sulphite of soda may be added to each 
powder with advantage. The powder will have to be 
mixed in a large bottle of water, and sweetened with molas- 
ses. Allow plenty of pure air, cold water and good strong 
feed, but not too much at a time ; this will be better than 
thin, poor and non-strengthening slop, which is so injuri- 
ous and deceptive, and so often recommended and adopted 
in cases of sickness. In the early stages of the disease, 
the carbonate of an.monia given in three drachm doses, 
along with the other powders, will do much good. There 
are two points I have ever sought to obtain, in the treat- 
ment of this disease, ist. To maintain the appetite. 2d. 
To restore and maintain it if it be lost. 



Rupture in Calves. 



The rupture we are now considering is what is known 
by the name umbilical, which occurs in young colts and 
calves, and consists in the protrusion of a portion of the 
bowel and intestine through the navel, thus forming a small 
tumor. This condition is often congenital, or found on the 
calf at birth. 

Treatment. — Force the bowel up into the belly, gather 
the loose skin together, tie a well-waxed cord tightly round 
it close to the belly, and a strong pin may be forced 
through the skin below the ligature or cord, to keep it from 
falling off before the loose skin comes away. In a few 
days the skin will fall off, leaving a healthy sore without 
any hole or rupture. 

Another form of treatment is to place a bandage round 
the body, and a pad over the rupture, as is recommended 



LIYE STOCK. 457 

for the same condition in colts (which see). Whatever the 
plan that may be adopted for the cure of umbiHcal hernia 
in calves, they must be kept separate from one another, as 
each will suck the other, thus preventing closure of the 
rupture and healing of the parts. 

Spaying. 



This is the name given to an operation for the removal 
of the ovaries or female testicles from the milch cow and 
young female oxen. The object for the removal of the 
ovaries from young cows that never have had a calf is to 
prevent them from ever having a desire for the male, so 
that they will be the more easily fattened and fitted for the 
market. Young cows so operated upon are henceforth 
called heifers. 

Advantages of Spayed Cows. 

The following are the reasons why dairymen should 
spay their cows, when not intended for breeding: 

1. Spayed cows are more easily kept in good condition 
than cows not spayed. 

2. They are less liable to sickness of an epizootic kind, 
and when sick, more certain and easy of cure. 

3. When epizootic diseases are present in the vicinity, 
or even in the herd, spayed cows are always in condition, 
and fit for the butcher. To prevent loss and save expense 
in the treatment, with the attendant risk of loss of some, 
and loss of condition and milk of all that are affected, they 
can be sold without loss — which is not the case with cows 
not spayed, and when pleuro-pneumonia is among them. 

4. Spayed cows give the same quantity and quality of 
milk all the year round, if they are properly fed and cared 
for. 



4S8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

5. Ten spayed cows will give the year round as much 
milk as double the number of cows not spayed, thus saving 
the interest on the outlay for ten cows, together with the 
absence of risk from loss of some of the principal by death 
of one or more from sickness, or accident, not to speak of 
the feed of ten cows. Between the feed of ten cows and 
their manure, the farmer can best estimate the difference 
in value. 

6. With spayed cows there is no risk to run from milk 
fever, nor trouble with cows called bullers. 

7. To fatten a cow, spay her instead of giving her the 
bull, as is the present custom — by which feed and time are 
consumed, and the animal is not made very fat after all, 
for she has to provide the fattening substance to the calf in 
the womb, which, if she had been spayed, would have been 
appropriated to herself; nor is this all, for the calf in the 
belly of the cow is at once discounted by the butcher, as it 
is not a salable article in market. 

8. Spayed cows cannot abort or slink their calves. 
Having thus had a bird's-eye view of the advantages to 

be derived from spayed cows, let us look in the same 
manner at the disadvantages of spayed ones. 

1. The expense of the operation, and attendant risk of 
the animal dying — although this is not great (about one 
in the hundred). The expense of the operation will be 
from three to five dollars, which will depend upon the dis- 
tance the operator has to travel, and how many animals are 
to be operated upon. 

2. Spayed cows are apt to accumulate fat and flesh, so 
that they will become dry much sooner than cows not 
spayed. Still there can be little loss, for a fat cow is 
always ready for sale. These, then, are the objections to 
the spaying of cows, if objections they may be called. We 
now leave the subject to those who are more immediately 
interested. 



LIVE STOCK. 459 



Teats. 

Teats of milch cows are often subject to diseases and 
derangement. 

1. Milk stones sometimes stop the flow of milk, and are 
felt within the milk channel, when the teat is pressed 
between the fingers. For their removal, take a silver 
probe or knitting needle, and, if possible, force the obstruc- 
tion up into the udder. 

2. Strictures of the milk channel of the teat cause a 
small stream of milk to flow, and impair the usefulness of 
that quarter of the udder. This can also be remedied by 
using a silver probe or needle, commencing, however, with 
a small size, and gradually using thicker or larger ones, till 
the channel is as large as wanted. This operation will have 
to be carried on for a week or two, the first day using the 
small probe three times in the day, and following the next 
day with the larger size, and so continuing with other sizes, 
till finally cured. 

3. Warts are of occasional trouble to the cow, and to 
those who milk her. Irritation and sometimes swelling is 
induced, which cause closure in the channel of the teat. 
Warts are to be removed with a pair of sharp scissors. 

4. Sore teats are cured by the simple ointment, one 
ounce, and one drachm of the rust of copper, commonly 
called verdigris, added to it. 




Diseases gf Sbggp. 



11 tHE following is an essay, for which the United States 
r-^ Agricultural Society awarded their medal and diploma, 
in the year 1861, to Robert McClure, of Philadelphia, Pa. 

The diseases of sheep which are laid under contribution 
are : i. Those that are the most frequent and destructive, 
therefore of the greatest interest and concern to the sheep 




farmer. 2. Those in which treatment and preventative 
means can be employed with profit and success. 3. Those 
the pathology of which has been in a measure or entirely 
misunderstood, therefore wrongly treated, and the pre- 
ventative measures neglected or misapplied. 

These diseases will embrace a large number of maladies 
that have been treated of separately in the work by the 
late Mr. Youatt as independent affections, when literally a 
great many diseases alluded to by this indefatigable writer 
are but different degrees and conditions of the same morbid 

phenomena. 

460 



LIVE STOCK. 461 

I would here say it is a pleasure to think that some 
addition has been made of late to the stock of veterinary 
knowledcre as resfards this useful animal, and I trust that 
the time is proximate when the good sense of American 
farmers will demand that a knowledge of the diseases and 
general management of sheep shall form a prominent 
feature in the education of the veterinary surgeon. 



Braxy-Enterites— Inflammation of the Bowels. 

Inflammation of the bowels is commonly known by the 
unmeaning name of "Braxy. "* It is a disease of more 
frequent occurrence among this class of domestic animals 
than any other I know of, chiefly affecting young sheep in 
their first year, and in cold and stormy weather, and 
exposed situations. It is not unfrequent when sheep have 
been feeding on turnips in the winter season, to find in the 
morning, after a cold, wet night, as many as a dozen, out 
of a few score, dead, dying, or affected by this disease. 

Symptoms. — They will be observed to be very restless ;* 
lying and rising; resting on one side, and then on the 
other; walking up and down as if looking for a place to 
lay down, but can find no place to suit. 

Trcatmejtf. — Give castor oil, two ounces ; calomel, five 
grains ; laudanum, two drachms ; molasses, two ounces ; 
beat up with an egg, and as much warm water as will be 
sufficient for a small drench, to be poured out of the stroupe 
or pipe of a common tea or coffee pot. Repeat this in half 
doses every six hours. 

Prevention. — In stormy weather, and when they have 

* Sheep affected by this disease are generally on the turnip field, and in good condition. 
If so, and the animal is very sick, never attempt to cure ; as in most cases death will take 
place before medical agents (be they ever so well directed) can take effect. Therefore, it 
will be the better plan to cut the neck, letting out the blood, thereby saving time and 
trouble, and preserving the mutton in good order. 



462 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

been feeding upon turnips, particularly where fenced in, 
remove them to pasture a little elevated, and as sheltered 
as possible from the storm, until the weather improves, 
and the turnip or other fields become drier ; place common 
or rock salt in covered troughs, which will tend to keep 
their bowels open. Salt is a good laxative for cattle and 
sheep. 

Diarrhea. 



Treatmcjit. — Powdered opium, two grains ; powdered 
gentian and powdered ginger, one drachm each ; mix. 
To be given in an infusion of linseed, and repeated if 
necessary. 

Hydrocephalus Hydatideus, Sturdy, Etc. 



A SINGULAR disease ; a very prevalent and fatal one, if 
left to run its course ; so much so, indeed, that in France 
alone no less than one million sheep die yearly, or are 
.destroyed by this pest of the ovine race. The symptoms 
by which this disease is accompanied are as follows : In 
the commencement, the animals will be observed to stop in 
the midst of their grazing, and then start away in a gallop 
over the field. They seem, at times, to be utterly uncon- 
scious of where they are, separating themselves from the 
rest of the herd. By-and-by, they become dull, and have 
a peculiar staggering gait. If there is a brook or rivulet 
within their reach, you are almost sure to find them stand- 
ing by it, apparently becoming giddy, not unfrequently 
tumbling in, and thus being lost. They lose flesh, the 
countenance becomes haggard, and, subsequently, the ani- 
mals thus affected commence a rotary motion, going round 
and round in the same direction, with the head inclined to 
the same side of the body. Now it almost ceases to feed 
or ruminate, as it cannot restrain the rotary motions, and 



LIVE STOCK. 463 

is becoming rapidly blind. Death generally ensues from 
starvation. 

Veterinary writers and agriculturists have differed very 
materially as to the cause of hydatid, some attributing it to 
certain poisonous plants — but these have never been 
pointed out ; others considering it a species of serous apo- 
plexy, and others still contending that it arises from local 
weakness of the brain, etc., etc. Autopsical examinations 
have, however, proved it to arise from a different cause, 
viz.: Coenurias ccrebralis, or hydatid in the brain, found 




floating in a serous fluid, contained within a sac or bladder, 
thus constituting Sturdy, Gid, Turnsick, etc. It attacks 
sheep from the sixth to the eighteenth month. 

The most common consists in the lamb or young sheep 
picking from the pastures the ova or larvae of the tcenia 
solhmi, which infests the shepherd's dog. If echinococcus, 
polymorphus or ventriorium, be swallowed by the dog, 
they are developed into tape-worm, with but few serrations. 
The minute ova are gathered and swallowed with the food 
of the sheep or lamb, and are taken up from the surface of 
the intestines. They find their way into the blood, and, 
finding a convenient nidus among the loose textures of the 



464 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

brain, are there deposited. Nature sets to work and en- 
closes these foreign bodies in a membranous sac, so that 
otherwise they may not produce fatal consequences, and in 
the short period of three months they are found to have 
reached the size of a filbert. 

Conversely, if these hydatids are swallowed by the dog", 
they are developed into tapeworms. Hydatids may be 
prevented in sheep by curing or preventing tapeworms in 
other animals, especially the dog. As before mentioned, 
hydatids only affect young sheep, and spring from the ova 
of the taenia. Herds managed without dogs are found to 
be quite free from the disease. However, dogs may be used 
with impunity when the sheep are upwards of eighteen 
months old. 

Treatment. — The treatment of this infection, until 
lately, has been varied, barbarous, and cruel ; one prac- 
ticing and recommending the cutting and pulling out the 
ears, and another of hunting the poor animals with dogs, 
and, if possible, running them over some precipice, 
frequently maiming or killing them. A strong knitting- 
needle forced up the nostrils has long been used, with 
occasional success ; but a small case of instruments, 
consisting of four pieces, is much better and safer, and, if 
properly used, will cure from seventy to eighty sheep out 
of a hundred thus affected, and can be used by any intel- 
ligent shepherd or farmer with perfect safety. In operating, 
observe carefully the side to which the sheep turns, as it 
invariably turns to the side of the skull which is affected, 
and which must be first operated upon. Secure and tie 
fast all the four feet, and place the animal on a table. Let 
your assistant sit down on the end of the table. Clip away 
all wool from the brow, sides, and crown of the head. 
Ascertain, by the fingers, if the skull yields on pressure at 
any particular spot on the side to which the sheep turned ; 
if so, shave the wool from the soft part. Use first the 
instrument with the adjusting screw, its use being to 



LIVE STOCK. 465 

prepare for the other, it being made a Httle wider than the 
trocar, with canula, so that the silver may not be brolcen in 
piercing the bone. Care, however, must be taken to stop 
when the point is fairly through the skull ; this is easily 
ascertained. The guard must then be screwed back. This 
done, take it out and insert the trocar and canula in the 
same hole, until past the split in the silver canula; then 
withdraw the trocar, leaving the canula sticking in the 
head, when the water will be forced from the hydatid, 
showing that it has been pierced. Put the point of the 
syringe into the canula, and draw out repeatedly, emptying 
each time until no more water will come out, or the cyst 
has been drawn into the canula, which now withdraw, 
taking care that the skin of the hydatid be caught hold of 
by the forceps, which the operator should have ready in 
his hand. 

Having removed the hydatid, leave the mouth of the 
wound open, only placing a piece of clean rag as a pledget 
over it, as water will escape for a day or two. Put on the 
angular hood to keep the cloth and padding in their place, 
and secure it by worsted ties. Care must be taken, if the 
sheep has not been able to eat for some days, that it get a 
bottle of gruel before operating, as the less disturbance it 
is subjected to for some hours after the operation the better, 
the brain taking a little time to adjust itself to the cavity 
that has been made by the removal of the hydatid. 
Neither must the sheep be put on too rich pasture, as on 
recovering they are apt to take too much food, which may 
cause inflammation in the head. Mark well the side that 
has been operated on, as it very frequently happens that 
there are more hydatids than one. In a week or two, if 
the sheep be observed turning to the opposite side, secure 
it a second time, and proceed as before. There are occa- 
sionally more than one or two in the same subject, and at 
the same time. Indeed, I have known as many as five, and 
not one of them less in size than the yolk of an egg. But 



466 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

two are quite common, one on each side of the brain, 
nearly under the seat of the horn. Occasionally there is 
one behind the first lobe of the brain, which is also easily 
taken out. 



Louping 111.— Tabes Dorsalis — Phrenitis. 



In every-day language this is properly called inflam- 
mation of the brain. Youatt, in his work on sheep, has 
been at the trouble to write out no less than six different 
diseases, all of which might have been treated under this 
head, being essentially the same in character, cause, and 
effect. It is characterized by extreme dullness, followed 
by excitement and madness. In horses, these symptoms 
continue for about two days ; but in cattle and sheep, 
much longer. The seat of the disease is the//« mater, or 
the vascular internal membrane of the brain, which is 
found after death to be rough and yellow, with extravased 
lymph and serum at the base of the brain. 

Treatment. — Give croton oil, six drops; syrup of 
ginger, one tablespoonful ; in a little gruel, so thin that it 
will run from the tea-pot. Apply cold water or ice to the 
head, and see that the poor animal does not hurt itself 
against the wall or fence. 

The causes of this disease are sometimes the result of 
injury to the head. It also arises from other than external 
injuries, the principal of which are exposure to cold, and 
a powerful sun in an exposed situation. But the most 
common causes are the eating from the pasture poisoning 
plant, or weeds, as the atropa belladonna (deadly night- 
shade), conium maculatum (common hemlock), cicutavirosa 
(water hemlock), diphinium staphysagria (stavesacre), felis 
fceomina (female fern) — all of which, if taken in sufficient 
quantity, will produce disease in the brain. I could easily 
swell the list of poisonous plants, but it is not my intention 



LIVE STOCK. 467 

to include in this work information of so unimportant a 
character. 

Paronychia Ovium— root-rot. 



This disease has been more prevalent within the last 
thirty years than previous to that time, which is accounted 
for to some extent in the varieties and breeds of sheep and 
in the increasing number. So much is this so, that farmers 
cannot find highland pasture sufficient for them, and they 
are brought down and put on moist lowland pasture, where 
they can find plenty of food without traveling much ; 
hence, the growth of horn is more than the wear, or the 
supply more than the demand. Subsequently the horn 
becomes over-grown and turns upon the sole, and bruising 
the sensitive structures, earth and sand soon find their way 
into the cavities produced, causing inflammation of the 
laminae, lameness, and secretion of fetid pus. 

Causes. — As before stated, it results from an increased 
supply of horn which turns up from the toe, pressing upon 
and irritating the sensitive structures of the foot. 

This affection of the feet is almost certain to follow the 
removal of heavy bred sheep, such as the black-faced 
Cheviot and Southdown, from their native and upland 
pastures to rich meadow and arable lands. Their native 
walks being rough and rugged — the grass not so plenty, 
which insure the sheep walking over a large tract of land 
in order to procure their food — hence the waste and supply 
of hoof is balanced. 

Trcahncnt. — Whenever the sheep is observed to go 
lame, it must be caught and the feet examined. Remove 
all filth and sand ; then cut off every loose and unsound 
portion of horn with a stout pocket-knife, and apply the 
following to the sore parts: Oil of turpentine, two ounces; 
sulphuric acid, half an ounce; olive oil, one ounce; mix. 
To be applied with a small piece of sponge or cloth on the 



468 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

end of a stick ; or a goose feather will answer very well. If 
sores occur on the digital space (divisions), or elsewhere, 
they should be touched with nitric acid or a little of the old 
butter of antimony (terchloride of antimony), by means of 
a feather. These appliances should be continued twice 
weekly, or as often as is necessary, until a change for the 
better takes place. 

Prevention. — To prevent this disease, the growth of 
horn must be kept down ; and if the sheep are on soft land, 
they must be examined every month, and the superfluous 
horn must be cut off Some shepherds advocate driving 
along a hard road to wear the hoofs ; I do not recommend 
such a course, as it does sheep a great deal of harm. The 
better way is to drive them into a sheepfold and examine 
their feet. 

Draining and liming the land very often puts a stop to 
foot-rot; the drainage to harden and dry the land, the 
liming to remove the soft, mossy herbage which is a great 
cause of the disease in sheep. It is not contagious in sheep, 
but in cattle, occurring in connection with murrain or vesic- 
ular epizootic, it is deadly contagious. 

Pneumonia. 

Trcattncnt. — Nitre, one dracnm; digitalis, twenty 
grains ; tartar emetic, twenty grains ; mix. To be given in 
linseed tea, once per day, in inflammation of the lungs, 
common cold accompanied with fever, or any disease, that 
is necessary to arrest the inordinate action of the heart. 



Psora, Scabies, Scab. 



When a sheep, or flock of sheep, are affected with scab, 
which is easily known by their continually standing by the 
fence and rubbing posts, scratching, and tearing the wool 



LIVE STOCK. 469 

off their back and sides, they will scarcely ever be seen 
grazing or lying down quietly and masticating their food, 
as is the case with sheep in perfect health. This disease 
in sheep is the same as mange in horses, dogs, and cattle ; 
and it is the result of the attacks of minute insects, or mites 
(acari), burrowing in the skin, producing great irritation 
and itching, and manifesting itself in small pimples, with 
dryness, scurfiness and baldness of the skin. This disease 
is contagious ; therefore, to prevent the spread of the infec- 
tion, the healthy must be separated from the diseased 
sheep. Keeping sheep clean, and occasionally washing in 
the summer season, in a great measure prevents a suitable 
nidus for the acari, and diminishes the prevalence of scab. 
Before putting healthy sheep on the same pasture, it will 
be necessary to wash all the rubbing posts with the solu- 
tion of the chloride, or common lime, which will literally 
burn up the virus. To make the impossibility of infection 
doubly sure (neat cattle and cows are as liable to take it as 
sheep), the best plan is to take a crop of hay and turn it 
over for a crop of corn, or any other purpose. 

Treatment. — The object to be attained in curing this 
disease is the destruction of the acari, which is necessarily 
the same in all animals ; but in sheep the material used 
must be in a fluid form, so as to penetrate the wool. 

The following is both an excellent cure and preventative 
of scab in sheep — : R. Acid A rseniosi, Ih'ij; Sulph, Ferri, 
lb. ccv ; Aquoe, cong. Ixv. Translation— Y o^A&x^A arsen- 
ious acid, two pounds; sulphate of iron, two hundred and 
five pounds ; water, sixty-five gallons ; mix. Boil until the 
fluid is reduced to one-third, and then add'as much water 
as has been lost by evaporation, This preparation is the 
celebrated " Bain de Tessier," so highly prized in France. 
The following will answer the same purpose, which will 
not stain the wool, as it contains no sulphate of iron, and 
will, no doubt, be preferred by many to the proceeding one 
on that account: Arsenious acid, two pounds; sulphate of 



470 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

zinc, ten pounds; water, sixty gallons; mix. Prepare as 
the foregoing one. Each of these valuable sheep-dipping 
mixtures are sufficient to cure and dip one hundred sheep. 

The way sheep-dipping mixtures are sometimes used is 
far wrong, as was the case in the celebrated sheep-poison- 
ing case at Burton, England, where the animals were 
driven, immediately after their bath, containing twenty 
ounces of arsenic, twenty ounces of soda-ash, and two 
ounces of sulphur, to their pasture, with their wool saturated 
with it, and consequently dripping from the wool on the 
grass that the sheep were just eating. 

The improved plan in dipping sheep is : First — The 
solution or the mixture is to be put in a tub, or other 
vessel, sufficiently large to allow the sheep (except the 
head) to be immersed in it, without the mixture running 
over the sides of the tub or vessel. Second — When the 
sheep is taken out, it must be placed in another tub or 
vessel, and the liquid pressed from the wool, and returned 
again into the dipping vessel. Third — The sheep must 
be kept enclosed in a sheep-fold, or other sufficiently airy 
place, where there is no food of any kind that a sheep will 
eat, until the wool is perfectly dry. 

Several of the veterinary professors of the Edinburgh 
veterinary colleges, after the above sheep-poisoning case 
occurred, instituted a series of experiments to prove 
whether arsenical baths were dangerous, and if sheep could 
be poisoned by immersion therein. The following is the 
result of their experience. ("Edinburgh Veterinary Re- 
view" for April, 1859) : 

1, That the immersion of sheep, whether sound, or 
suffering from scab, with extensive eruptions or "foot-rot," 
with free exposure of the vascular structure of the feet, in 
arsenical solutions, varying in strength, is unattended by 
prejudicial effects, and proves salutary to the diseased 
animals. 

2. That the congregating of sheep after dipping, where 



LIVE STOCK. 471 

food is not allowed them, is unattended with danger ; and I 
can distinctly testify to the absence of all risk from sheep 
licking- each other. 

3. That all sheep having remained damp from twenty- 
four to thirty-six hours after being dipped, cutaneous 
absorption of arsenical solution might have been going on 
rapidly during the prolonged period in which the sheep 
continued wet; but no unfavorable symptoms ensued — 
indeed the reverse. 

4. The absence of the slightest change in health, or of 
the manifestation of symptoms which usually ensue on the 
administration of arsenic to the lower animals, even in 
medicinal doses by the mouth, leads us to infer that if a 
minute quantity of arsenic, in solution, can penetrate the 
system of a sheep by absorption by the skin, it is quite 
insufficient to develop the physiological action of the com- 
pound. 

5. A solution of arsenic is not more readily absorbed 
from limited abraded surfaces than from the healthy skin, 
owing probably to the arsenic acting as an astringent on 
the sores, and rendering the latter as impenetrable, proba- 
bly, as the uninjured skin. This remark does not apply to 
large wounds. 

6. It appears impossible to poison sheep by bathing 
them in arsenical solutions, provided the liquid is not intro- 
duced directly or indirectly into the stomach by the mouth. 
By the direct means of introduction of the constituents of ' 
a "dripping mixture" in the stomach of a sheep is meant 
making the sheep swallow the liquid whilst being bathed; 
and by the indirect means is implied the penetration of 
arsenical solution into the stomach by food poisoned by 
the liquid dropping from the bodies of the sheep, the 
wool of which has not been pressed, or from a number of 
sheep injudiciously congregated over food they subse- 
quently eat. 

7. Arsenical solutions, whether weaker than ordinary 



472 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

dipping mixtures, or much stronger, are likewise incapable 
of being absorbed by the skin of sheep or man. 

8. Sheep will partake of grass and other food which has 
been smeared or soaked with an arsenical solution, not- 
withstanding the presence of soft soap and soda. 

Arsenical baths and mixtures are not only used for 
the cure and prevention of scab, but are the most highly, 
and, I think, justly valued preservatives of the fleece of 
sheep, and are a protection to the propagation of many 
parasites. 



Rot — Cachexia Aquosa — Chlorosis. 

The very name of this disease is a terror to many 
sheep-farmers who have suffered and lost so much by it. 
It is so destructive amongst sheep, that it is estimated that 
in the rainy winters of 1829-30 two million sheep died or 
were destroyed by the disease alone. It again made its 
appearance in Great Britain during the very wet years 
1852-53. The symptoms by which the disease can be 
detected in its early stage are very talent ; but if there are 
suspicions of this disease, it can readily be detected by the 
color of the mucous membranes, or the muces of the 
mouth ; the appendages of the eye being of a pale yellow; 
the animal costive, and the urine of a high color, thus indi- 
cating disease of the liver. As the disease is more 
advanced there is little difficulty in coming to a true and 
proper diagnosis of the case, as all the muscular fibers 
assume a uniform yellow brown color, and the wool has a 
matted and dry appearance, and subsequently the muscles 
waste, and digestion is impaired, and at length the animal 
dies in from two to four months. Where a flock of sheep 
do not thrive and acquire fat and flesh on good feed and 
pasture, something must be wrong, and the sooner it is 
found out the better, as they may have acquired the disease 



LIVE STOCK. 473 

before they where bought. The better way would be to 
have one of the worst ones brought in and destroyed, and 
then have a thorough examination, which will set every- 
thing to rest, and point out the line of duty which is open 
to be pursued in the treatment and prevention of the 
disease, ere it be too late to do good. 

It is very frequent in wet seasons, in wet and undrained 
lands, and is characterized by an enlarged and softened 
condition of the liver, and accumulation of the common 
fluke (distomum hepaticum), in the biliary ducts and gall 
bladder. 

Post-mortem appearances show most clearly the nature 
and extent of the disease, as before mentioned. There is 
found a large number of these flukes in the liver, and that 
organ very much enlarged, soft, and flabby; the bile and 
all the serous fluids are of a yellow color, and, on account 
of the debilitating nature of the disease, a large quantity 
of the exudative matter is found in the belly and chest. 
There is one appearance that will never deceive : the liver 
is not of that pale and, I would say, cooked appearance 
which is usually presented after ordinary " Hepatitis ;" but 
in most cases is all covered with livid spots not unlike the 
mottled appearance of the lungs of cattle that have died 
of epizootic pleuro-pneumonia. In a word, the liver is the 
only true seat of this disease. 

Catcsc. — The cause of this disease, Until lately, was 
often a surmise and supposition. Then the question arose, 
why it has been a precept with careful shepherds not to let 
the sheep graze on dewy grass, or wet and marshy land? 
Why the dew and wet land was considered so dangerous 
none could tell, and least of all the bucolic guardian. 
Although unable to give a reason why, he could aver and 
prove that it was so. The rational conclusion is, that 
many creatures pass the early portion of their predatory 
existence in the bodies of one species of animal, and their 
maturity in another. Their eggs are deposited in the 



474 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

former, but are not developed until expelled and cast upon 
the earth or manure-heap to shift for themselves. 

They lie on the smoking dung-pile or such places, and 
far away from the sheep, in which they can find food and 
develop themselves. The rain washes them into the earth, 
or they are carried to the fields with the manure. The 
humidity serves to develop them ; they fix themselves 
upon the moist grass, and with it these tiny enotozoa are 
carried into the stomachs of the sheep. Once there, their 
work is soon accomplished. 

Treatment. — The successful treatment of the disease 
embraces particularly that of prevention. As before men- 
tioned, it is chiefly caused by wet and damp pasture lands 
— hence the proposition for their restoration will be: 
First, their removal to a high and healthy pasture, giving 
them hay and nourishing food, such as a little bruised oil 
cake, or linseed-meal, and placing covered troughs in the 
field containing rock, or common salt, which sheep are 
very fond of licking, and which moreover regulates their 
bowels, and gives them an appetite for food and water. 
Second, give each sheep epsom salts, two ounces ; oil of 
turpentine, one ounce; pulverized ginger, half an ounce. 
To be given in half a pint of molasses-water, to be followed 
up with tonics, if they are found necessary. The following 
will answer a good purpose : Sulphate of iron, in powder, 
ten grains; gentian, in powder, thirty grains; ginger, in 
powder, thirty grains. To be given in linseed-meal gruel 
once a day for a few days. It is the experience of almost 
every sheep-farmer, and sometimes too dearly bought, that 
to place sheep on wet and marshy land, even for a few 
days, is certain to generate this disease, notwithstanding 
the animals may have been in perfect health prior to his 
placing them there. Before placing the sheep on pasture 
where there is access to any bog or marsh, it will amply 
repay the time and trouble to fence it in ; or have sufficient 



LIVE STOCK. 475 

sheep-drains openea through it six months before any 
sheep are put on it. 

Sheep-drains are wide, and not filled up with tiles or 
stones, but left open. The shepherd can find time to keep 
both the sheep in order and the drain clean of rubbish, 
except in the lambing and clipping season. 



Poisoning by Sheep Laurel — Kalmia. 



A SHRUB, the leaves and young twigs of which sheep 
and lambs are very fond, and when eaten by them to con- 
siderable quantity gives rise to a disease called hoven or 
impaction of the rumen, accompanied by a staggering gait, 
sleepliness, and inability to walk. 

Treatment. — To be successful must be timely as well as 
energetic, with a view to arousing the power of the 
stomach, and for this purpose two drachm doses of the 
spirits of ammonia may be given in a tumbler full of cold 
water once in the hour, till three or four doses are given ; 
withholding the medicine when the animal recovers, though 
one dose only has been given. 

Small-Pox— Variola Oving. 



Fortunately this disease has as yet been confined to 
Europe, and more especially the continental portion, where 
it may be said to be never absent. In France and Italy it 
occurs frequently, and causes much loss and destruction. 
England was visited with it in 1847, when it was communi- 
cated to a flock at Datchett, and another at Pinnar, by 
some Merinoes from Spain. In 1862, it again occurred, 
but this time very suddenly, and in a very severe form 
among the flocks in Wiltshire ; for which re-appearance 
neither infection nor traceable contagion could be assigned 



476 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

as the cause. The Hght shed upon it makes it appear to 
be an instance of the origination of a more malignant type 
of variola ovina. Such is, in fact, assigned to this disease 
in Africa, it being well established that certain injurious 
atmospheric influences produce skin diseases and facilitate 
the appearance of pastular eruptions. From the nature of 
the disease in its being produced both by atmospheric 
causes and contagion, it soon assumes an epizootic form, 
and causes more destruction than any other malady affect- 
ing this useful animal. Out of a flock of 1720, ninety-two 
were attacked in a natural way, of which fifty-per cent, 
died. Of eight hundred inoculated cases, only thirty- 
six per cent. died. The mortality from this disease is 
never less than twenty-five per cent., and not unfrequently 
whole flocks have been swept away, death taking place in 
the early stages of the eruption, and others in suppurative 
and ulcerative stages. 

Sympioms. — These may be mapped out as follows : 
The animal is seized with a shivering fit, succeeded by 
stupidity, which remains till death or recovery takes place. 
On the second or third day pimples are seen on the inside 
of the thighs and arm-pits, accompanied with redness of 
the eyes, complete loss of appetite and other symptoms 
which are common to other diseases of the same animal. 

Prevention. — Two plans are resorted to for the purpose 
of preventing the spread of the affection, which promise a 
certainty of success. The first and best plan is, isolation 
and destruction. This plan proved a great protection to 
the sheep-farmers of Wiltshire in 1862. In well-known 
epizootic diseases, where individual cases occur and are 
pointed out and well recognized, as soon as the fever sets 
in, and before the eruptions appear, they should be slaugh- 
tered at once and buried. The loss of one or two sheep 
is nothing to the consequences of the spread of a disease 
of this kind. By doing so the disease has been known to 
be confined to a few cases in a large flock. 



LIVE STOCK. 477 

Treatment. — In treating this disease, resort nas been 
had to a plant called sarracenia purpura, Indian cup, or 
pitcher plant, which is used for treating this disease in man 
by the Micmac tribe of Indians in British North America. 
(See Horse and Cattle Medicines, in this book.) Take 
from one to two ounces of the root (dried if to be had), 
and slice it in thin pieces ; place In an earthen pot ; add a 
quart of cold water, and allow the liquid to simmer gently 
over a slow, steady fire from two to three hours, so as to 
lose one-fourth of the quantity. Give ofthis tea or decoc- 
tion three wine-glassfuls at once, and the same quantity 
from four to six hours after, when a cure will generally be 
effected. Weaker and smaller doses are certain prevent- 
ives of small-pox, whether in men or animals. The public 
are indebted to Dr. Norris, Physician to the Halifax (Nova 
Scotia) Dispensary, for the manner of preparing this highly 
important article. Sulphurous acid gas will be found 
useful in small-pox. (For manner of using, see Horse and 
Cattle Medicines, in this book.) 



MGDiGines. 



Acids. 



"t I THESE are derived from the mineral, vegetable and 
(T-^ animal kingdoms, and are of a sour taste — hence the 
name acid. Some acids are solid, others fluid, and all are 
easily dissolved in water. Acids are mostly poisonous, 
except when highly diluted, or mixed with water, 

Pyroligneous Acid. 



This Is gotten by the distillation of wood, and some- 
times sold in a diluted form as white vinegar. It Is used 
with salt by horsemen for sore backs and shoulders. 



478 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Acetic Acid. 

This acid is eight times stronger than ordinary vine- 
gar. 

Use. — Sometimes used in sprains, and for the destruc- 
tion of the poison of insects, by adding one ounce of 
camphor to four ounces of the acid. 

Muriatic Acid. 



This is commonly called the spirit of salt. 

Use. — A good tonic in debilitating diseases in horse 
and cattle, and can be advantageously employed in pleuro- 
pneumonia in cattle, for it relieves the quick breathing, and 
keeps up the strength. 

Dose. — Forty to sixty drops given largely diluted, or 
mixed with cold water, and repeated three to four times in 
the day. 

Externally. — It is used for sores in the feet of horses, 
by pouring a few drops in the nail-hole or sore. Ten 
drops poured into the fistulous openings of poll-evil or 
quittor in the foot, daily, sometimes cures the disease. 



Nitric Acid, or Aqua Fortis. 



This, given properly, and largely diluted, is an excel- 
lent tonic, and is used for the same purpose, and in the 
same doses as the preceding. 

Sulphuric Acid. 



Possibly this acid is preferable to any other oi the 
acids for ititernal use, in weakness and debility. It is 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 479 

given in from forty to sixty drop doses, also largely diluted 
with water. Horses and cattle will usually drink water, 
when acid is in it. In all kinds of fevers, sulphuric acid is 
an excellent medicine to give. In mixing it, the acid "s to 
be added to the water, not the water to the acid. 



Frussic Acid. 



A HIGHLY dangerous poison. There are two forms of 
this acid kept in the drug stores. Scheels' contains five 
per cent., and that of the colleges about two per cent. 

Use. — Given in locked-jaw in the horse with considera- 
ble success. 

Dose. — Half to one drachm once a day. If the horse 
be young, half a drachm will be enough. Two drops to 
the ounce of water is an excellent wash to the skin of all 
animals, in mange and inveterate itching. Great care, 
however, must be exercised in its use, whether internally 
or externally. It is sold under the name of hydrocianic 
acid. 

Aconite— (Aconitum Napellus, Wolfsbane, Monkshood). 



An active poison, and one of the garden plants of parts 
of Europe. The tincture is that portion which is used in 
diseases of horses and cattle. 

Tincture of Aconite Root. — One of the most power- 
ful, certain and successful sedatives which can be used. It 
has done away with bleeding, blistering and physicking, 
which were formerly thought proper agents wherewith to 
combat and cure disease. It is not only sedative, but it is 
a nauseant, calmative, anodyne, stimulant, diaphoretic and 
antiphlogistic. It controls fever, and allays pain and 
inflammation; and is the only medicine, excepting hella- 
bore, which can excite the horse, the ox, or the elephant, to 



48o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

vomit. Although these animals cannot vomit, it is the 
one to cause them to make the effort. If, according to the 
founder of homoeopathy, mercury was a divine metal, no 
less surely may aconite be considered a divine vegetable; 
for without it, or something as good, what can be so suc- 
cessful in curing lung fever, founder, inflammation of any 
part of the body, colic from eating green food, and fever 
accompanying cattle diseases of whatever kind? Nothing 
controls the circulation and action of the heart so promptly 
as aconite. The nervous centers of the body are no less 
ready to obey its action. Hence, its value in allaying fever, 
irritation, excitement and pain, from whatever cause. 

Aconite should never be carried too far, or prostration 
and weakness will follow. Never gfive more than eiofht 
doses when twenty drops are the dose, nor more than six 
doses when twenty-five drops are the dose. Or, in other 
words, never, in any disease, give more than two drachms, 
or one hundred and twenty drops, whether the dose has 
been ten, twenty or twenty-five drops. In pleuro-pneu- 
monia and other diseases, iron and the mineral acids should 
follow aconite. 

Alcohol. 



Spirits of wine entirely free from water, and is used for 
making tinctures of the various plants. It is the founda- 
tion of many lotions and liniments. Alcohol maybe given 
to horses having a chill, in half-pint doses, mixed with a 
little warm water, not too hot. 

Aloes. 



This is the expressed juice of several plants of same 
name. Aloes are of several varieties : Barbadoes, Soco- 
torine, Cape, and Hepatic — all of which differ in color, and 
some of them in strength. Barbadoes and the Socotorine 
are the varieties kept in the drug stores. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 48 1 

Use. — Aloes is used as a purgative, or cathartic, for 
horses only. Cattle do not respond to aloes, nor is it a 
proper internal medicine for those animals. 

Dose. — From six to eight drachms, made into a bolus, 
or ball, with two drachms of powdered ginger and molasses, 
to cause them to stick together. 

Tincture of aloes is an excellent application to a healthy 
sore. In the form of a compound tincture, which is com- 
posed of aloes and myrrh, it is preferred, by some persons, 
to the simple tincture. 

Alum. 



A COMPOUND salt, containing sulphuric acid, potash, and 
alumina. 

Use. — It is applied to sores, to arrest bleeding, and in 
the form of burnt alum, is used to touch indolent sores, 
which are not disposed to heal quickly. 

Ammonia. 



Liquid ammonia is commonly called spirits of harts- 
horn. 

Use. — A diffusable stimulant, and is given in cases of 
flatulent colic. Formerly it was in much repute among 
farriers, mixed with oil, as a liniment, but it is not now con- 
sidered of much value, and is apt to blemish. 

Dose. — Two drachms to half an ounce, as an anti-spas- 
modic, in flatulent colic. 

Carbonate of Ammonia. — A highly valuable medicine, 
when given in weakness, debility, and prostration, from 
influenza, lung fever, bronchitis, etc. 

Dose. — From two drachms to half an ounce, which may 
be repeated three times in the day, and should be given, 
mixed in cold gruel, so that the latent, or hidden heat, will 



482 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

not be developed, as it would be, if given in anything warm, 
thereby scalding the throat while drenching. 

Muriate of Ammonia. — This possesses the same prop- 
erties as the above, but is not so strong. 

Acetate of Ammonia. — Is made extemporaneously, by 
dissolving the carbonate in strong acetic acid, till effer- 
vescence ceases ; then adding water to it till it is of the 
strength of ordinary vinegar. 

Use. — An excellent form of ammonia when given in 
weakness and debility. Indeed, ammonia, and its several 
preparations, need only to be used to convince of their 
utility in supporting the vital powers, and thereby curing 
disease. 

Ansesthetics. 



Medicines which induce insensibility. 



Aniseed. 



A warm carminative, and used in conjunction with fenu- 
greek and cardamoms, in weed, and fevers in milch cows, 
and for indigestion and loss of appetite in horses. 

Dose. — For horses and cows, one to two ounces, given 
three times in the day. 

Anodynes. 



These are medicines which allay pain. (See Aconite, 
Opium, Morphia, Chloroform, and Ether.) 

Antimony. 



A metal. Many preparations of antimony are kept in 



the drug stores. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 483 



Tartarized Antimony. 



This is commonly called Tartar Emetic, and was for- 
merly relied upon in the treatment of lung, or chest diseases 
in horses, and cattle ; but, to the great surprise of the 
knowing ones, recent experiments have shown that tartar 
emetic has no sedative effect whatever,' upon horses, 
cattle, sheep, or other herbivorous animals. Pounds of 
tartar emetic have been given to horses, cattle and sheep, 
without any effect, excepting increasing the appetite a little, 
and having no effect upon either the respiration, or circula- 
tion, whatever. Therefore, tartar emetic we will leave to 
the dogs and to man. 

Tartar emetic ointment is sometimes recommended, to 
be applied to the region of the kidneys, where the Spanish 
fly dare not be used. 



Ter Sulphuret of Antimony, or Black Antimony. 



This is a favorite, with many horsemen, for making a 
horse shine. 



Ter Chloride of Antimony. 



This is a useful medicine for diseases of the feet of 
horses, cattle, and sheep ; it owes its properties to hydro- 
chloric acid. It is commonly called, by old farriers, buttyre 
of antimony. In foul claw in cattle, and sores in the feet 
of horses, a piece of cotton should be moistened with it, 
and laid upon the sore. 

Antiseptics. 



Medicines which arrest decay and putrefaction. 



484 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Antispasmodics. 



Medicines capable of relieving spasms, as in colic. 

Areca Nut. 



An effective cure for tape-worm in the dog. 

Dose. — - About two grains of the nut, to every pound of 
the animal's weight, and given in the form of a pill, or 
suspended in milk. 



Arnica Montana.— (Leopard's Bane). 

Tincture of Arnica. — A valuable remedy for sprains 
and bruises. A lotion is made as follows : Tincture of 
arnica, one ounce; water, two ounces. Cloths, kept wet 
with it, should be laid on the part which is sore. 



Arsenic. 



A well-known poison. 

Use. — A splendid tonic, improving health, condition, and 
wind of the horse. 

Dose. — When given once a day, five grains will be a safe 
dose, for an ordinary-sized horse. If given twice a day, 
two and a half grains will be enough. 

Arsenic should be given mixed in feed, in large bulk, 
such as cut feed, so as to protect the stomach as much as 
possible, whilst at the same time reaping its advantages. 
These doses should be continued at least for two weeks, 
stcppmg at that time for one week, and commencing again 
as before. This will insure safety, with the benefits of the 
arsenic, and an improved condition in both wind and body. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 485 

In Switzerland, and other parts of the world, arsenic is 
relied upon for the cure of heaves in the horse. 

Fowler's Solution of Arsenic. — Made as ordered by 
the colleges, contains four grains of arsenic, to the ounce 
of the solution, or fluid. 

Asafcetida. 



This is a gum-resin, having a smell like onions. Asa- 
fcetida is a stimulant and vermifuge, and is given to horses 
for loss of appetite, and to produce a fine silken coat upon 
them. It is given to dogs to expel worms. Dose, for the 
horse and the cow, two drachms, and for dogs, ten to 
twenty grains. 

Tincture. — Where the stimulant effect is wanted, the 
tincture is a good form, and is given in about the same 
doses as the gum for all animals. 

Asarabacca. 



This is used in horses where matter is lodged in the 
nares of the nose, and it is desirable that it should be brought 
down ; and also in sheep and calves, with faliria bronchi, 
or worms in the air passages. For horses, blow a drachm 
up each nostril out of a cone of paper, taking care that the 
person does not inhale it himself. For a flock of sheep or 
a number of calves, confine them in a close shed, with suffi- 
cient air, and throw a considerable quantity among them, 
so the animals will inhale it. Sneezing and snorting take 
place, followed by mucous and small worms from the nose. 
This action is called crrhine. 

Astringents. 



Medicines which are capable of drying up discharges, 
whether from the bowels or from a sore. The principal 



486 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

medicines of this class are opium, tannin, oak-bark and 
chalk. 

Atropine. 



The active principle of Belladonna. 

Belladonna — ( Atr opia Belladona) . 



Belladonna is used in veterinary practice for the same 
purposes as opium, but it is to be preferred to opium on 
account of its having no binding effect on the bowels. 
The extract is the preparation used, and is prescribed in all 
animals for colic, rheumatism, coughs, sore-throat, bron- 
chitis, influenza and lock-jaw. Doses, half a drachm to 
forty or fifty grains, dissolved in half an ounce of the sweet 
spirits of nitre, and repeated three times a day in the doses 
above mentioned. In diseases of the eye, it is considered 
valuable, as it has the power of contracting the iris of the 
eye, thus causing enlargement of the pupil, and breaking 
up adhesions between the iris and the lens. It also facili- 
tates operations on the eye. 



Benzoin. 



A GUM-RESIN, the tincture of which is known as the old 
Friar s Balsam, and is an excellent application for sores 
and unhealthy ulcers. 

Benzole. 



This is a watery carbon, and is obtained from coal-tar. 
It is used to destroy lice and other insects in the skins of 
all our domestic animals. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 487 



Subnitrate of Bismuth. 



Use. — For dogs, when affected with vomiting and purg- 
ing. 

Dose. — Five to fifteen grains, given on sugar ; may be 
repeated. 

Bole Armenia. 



Formerly in great repute among old horse doctors for 
many diseases of all the animals, and it entered into almost 
every mixture. It is useless. 

« 

Borax —(Biborate of Soda). 



A GOOD application for ringworm, for which purpose 
dissolve half an ounce of borax in eight ounces of water. 

Bromide of Potassium. 



Use. — For arresting the growth of fibrous tumors, so 
often met with in all animals. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, from one to three 
drachms, and for dogs, five to ten grains, repeated three 
times in the day, for a considerable period. 

Buckthorn. 



A SYRUP is made of the berries, and kept in the drug 
stores, and is recommended as a mild purgative in dogs 
having distemper. 

Calamine. 



An impure carbonate of zinc. Oxide of zinc should be 
used or substituted for it. Used in the healing of wounds, 
both in powder and ointment. 



488 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Calcium, or Quicklime. 



Lime is used in indig-estion and acidity in all animals; 
in tympanitis in the horse, in hoven in cattle, and in the 
form of lime-water. Mixed with linseed oil in equal quan- 
tities, it makes the celebrated Carron oil, so called from its 
constant use among the men employed in the Carron Iron 
Works, when any of them get burnt. Lime-water and 
calomel make the yellow wash, and corrosive sublimate 
and lime-water make the black wash, so highly recom- 
mended in unhealthy, and in ill-conditioned ulcers, and 
sores. It is used as a disinfectant in stables and barns. 

Dose. — Quicklime is given to horses and cattle, in from 
one to two drachms. Lime-water is given in five-ounce 
doses to horses and cattle. For calves with diarrhea, two 
ounces of lime water, a drachm of powdered gentian 
root, and from three to five drops of the tincture of 
aconite root, given three times a day, is an excellent 
remedy. 

Calomel— (Chloride of Mercury). 



Calomel should be rarely used in horse and cattle prac- 
tice, from the fact that animals are not so subject to scrof- 
ulous diseases, and liver complaints, as man is, and as these 
are the diseases chiefly calling for calomel, we can, in vet- 
erinary practice, do without it, so far as internal use is 
concerned. For external application, in the form of the 
black and yellow wash, it is valuable. Calomel sprinkled 
on unhealthy ulcers and sores is valuable, quickly changing 
their appearance. Calomel is sometimes used in thrush of 
the foot of the horse, inserted into the cleft of the frog. In 
cattle with foul claw, and in sheep with sore feet, it can be 
used to great advantage. A dog can take as much aloes 
as will kill a man, but a man can take as much calomel as 
will kill several dogs. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 489 



Camphor. 



Camphor is a slight stimulant, followed by calmatic 
effect. Hence it is recommended in cases of irritation and 
nervous excitement, and enters into all mixtures used in 
cases of chronic cough. Three to five grains of camphor, 
and extract of belladonna five grains, rubbed down in a 
little whisky or alcohol, and mixed in three ounces of water, 
is an excellent remedy in allaying irritation in dogs having 
distemper. An excellent rubifacient can be made with 
camphor, one ounce; acetic acid. No. 8, four ounces. To 
allay irritation in a sore, camphor and sweet oil is a good 
application. 

Doses. — Camphor is given to horses and cattle, in from 
two to four drachms, repeating the ddse three or four times 
a day. 

Cantharides. 



(See Spanish Fly.) 
Capsicum. 



(See Pepper.) 

Carbolic Acid. 

This is a product of coal tar, and was formerly known 
to the scientific world as phenile or phenic acid, but 
is now generally known as carbolic acid. Its smell resem- 
bles that of creosote, which is carbolic acid and a fixed oil, 
and is very offensive to most persons. Its form is that of 
an acid solution, though sometimes sold in crystals. Its 
great importance is due to its property of coagulating the 
albumen of the animal tissue, and hence its value in sores, 
wounds and ulcers. It may be applied with safety to all 



490 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

parts of the body or legs, and is invaluable for destroying 
lice, wood-ticks, and all forms of parasite life, and by 
merely washing or moistening those parts of the legs and 
bodies of horses, cattle and sheep, and chosen by the bot, 
horse or other flies to deposit their eggs, their hatching or 
even deposit may be prevented. 

As a disinfectant in stables and buildings affected with 
fevers and all kinds of distempers, it was found extremely 
serviceable in England, in checking the ravages of the 
rinderpest by washing the floors and stalls ; and, adding a 
teaspoonful of the solution of the acid to a bucketful of 
water, in whitewashing the walls and ceilings. 

External Use. — For sores and wounds, when unhealthy, 
a good application may be made by adding one drachm 
of the acid to one pint of water. This will destroy all 
putrefaction, and induce the wound to take on a healthy 
action. 

Cardamons. 



The seeds of a plant. 

Use. — Given to milch cows in case of loss of appetite, 
and fevers. Generally it is united with fenugreek, ginger, 
or gentian root, mixed in warm ale, or molasses water. 
This mixture will cure ephemeral or fevers of a day's 
duration, when other medicines have failed. 

Dose. — One to two ounces. 

Carbonate of Lime. 

A CHALK which is sold in the drug stores under the 
name oi creta prcparata, or prepared chalk. 

Doses — For horses and cattle, one to two ounces is the 
dose. For calves, two to three drachms, given in wheat- 
flour gruel, with a drachm of ginger, or caraway seed, for 
curing diarrhea. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 491 



Caraway. 



The seeds of a garden plant, and used for the same 
purposes as the preceding. 

Cascarilla. 



The bark of a tree. 

Use. — A bitter tonic, and resembles in some particulars 
that of quinine. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, one to two ounces, mixed 
in gruel. 

Castor-Oil. 



The expressed oil of the seeds of the Ricinus Com- 
munis. 

Use. — However useful castor-oil may be as a purgative 
in the human family, it is certainly a dangerous poison 
when given in sufficient quantities to induce purging, in 
either the horse, cow or sheep. It produces irritation and 
inflammation of the coats of the bowels, without relief from 
purging. 

For the dog, castor-oil may be a proper and useful purg- 
ative ; and for the pig, also. Aloes and linseed oil is the 
purgative for the horse; epsom, or glauber salts, for the 
ox and the sheep. Whatever suits man, as a purge, will 

answer for the dog and pig. 

• 

Cassia— (False Cinnamon). 



Much cheaper than cinnamon, and may be given to 
horses and cattle, in powder, mixed in gruel, for loss of 
appetite. 

Dose. — One to two ounces, for horses or cattle. 



492 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Catechu. 



An extract from a species o{ acacia. 

Use. — An astringent, binding the bowels in diarrhea, 
is used in combination with chalk and opium. 

Dose. — For horses and cattle, two to five drachms. For 
sheep and swine, one to three drachms. For the dog, ten 
to twenty grains. 

For superpurgation in horses and cows my favorite com- 
bination is as follows: Catechu, two to five drachms; pre- 
pared chalk, one to two ounces; powdered opium, ten to 
thirty grains ; mix, and drench with wheat-flour gruel. 

Chalk. 



(See Carbonate of Lime.) 



Chamomile. 

The flowers o{ anthem is noblis. 

Use. — A very mild tonic, possibly too much so for the 
horse or cow. We have better ones, although, perhaps 
not so well known. 

Charcoal. 



Occasionally given to cows in chronic diarrhea. 

Dose. — Half an ounce to one ounce, given suspended in 
gruel of any kind. Externally, charcoal is very valuable, 
when applied to badly smelling wounds and ulcers. It 
immediately corrects the foetor, and rapidly disposes them 
to heal. Charcoal and brewers' yeast are good cleansers 
of putrid sores and ulcers, and are worthy of more exten- 
sive use. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 493 



Chenopodimn Anthelminticum— (Wormseed). 



An excellent remedy for worms in dogs. Drop from 
two to five drops of the oil in a little soup, or give from ten 
to twenty grains of the bruised seed, for four successive 
nights, and then follow with a dose of castor -oil. 



Chlorine Gas. 



Chlorine gas is prepared by pouring hydrochloric acid 
on the black oxide of manganese, also by heating sulphuric 
acid with common salt and the manganese. 

Use. — This gas is a disinfectant, and for this purpose 
it is made and used as follows: Take an ounce or so 
(depending upon the size of the place to be disinfected) of 
black oxide of manganese, and hydrochloric acid of suffi- 
cient quantity, carry them to the place where they are to 
be used, pour the one into the other, and close the doors, 
having first removed all the animals out of the place. A 
spirit lamp, placed under the bottom of the vessel holding 
the materials, will insure a greater volume of gas. (See 
Disinfectants.) 

Chlorine, when sufficiently and properly used, is con- 
sidered to be of great advantage in arresting the ravages 
of glanders, farcy, and other distempers in the horse, of 
pleuro-pneumonia and contagious typhus in cattle, and 
small-pox in sheep. It is to be hoped that farmers gener- 
ally will provide themselves with proper apparatus for this 
purpose. It will not cost above three dollars, and consists 
of a small lamp with a stand so formed that a small glass 
bottle, commonly called a Florence flask, can sit right above 
the blaze of the lamp, while from its wide and open mouth 
issues the disease-healing and health- restoring gas. 



494 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Chloric Ether. 



Chloroform, dissolved in spirits of wine. 
Chloride of Potassium. 



Similar to chloride of soda, or common salt. 
Chloride of Lime. 



Use. — As a disinfectant, from its antiseptic and deodor- 
izing effects, and is an excellant stimulant to unhealthy 
ulcers. Chloride of lime, has been highly recommended in 
tympanitis in the horse, and hoven in cattle, arising from 
eating wet clover. 

Dose. — From two to four drachms, given, mixed with 
cold water. 

As a disinfectant it may be sprinkled on the stable or 
barn floor every morning ; but a good way would be to 
suspend it in a box having many small holes in it and hung 
from the roof of the house. If the house be large, two or 
more boxes may be used. 

Chloroform— (Terchloride of Pormyle). 



Chloroform is an excellent stimulant, when given to 
horses having a chill, or shivering fit, from congestion, or 
from cold, and is equal to turpentine, for the cure of colic. 
An excellent liniment is. made, by adding one ounce of 
chloroform to two of olive oil. 

■Dose. — Chloroform is given to the horse and cow, in 
doses from one to two drachms, mixed in weak whisky, 
and repeated every two or three hours, or till the colic is 
relieved. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 495 

Inhalation. — The inhalation of chloroform, by either 
horse, or ox, is attended with risk, provided the animal be 
not secured or tied, so that it cannot get loose ; because 
some horses and cattle become completely wild, when the 
effects of the inhalation commence to act upon the brain. 
On the other hand, some horses will quietly stand up, 
others as quietly lay down under it. 

Two to four ounces are sufficient to produce anesthesia, 
or loss of sensibility. The usual way of giving chloroform 
by inhalation is, by pouring about two ounces of chloroform 
on a soft and moist sponge, whilst the animal is tied down, 
and holding the sponge to one nostril only, covering the 
nose loosely with a large towel, to save the fumes of the 
chloroform, using great care not to exclude the admission 
of pure air with the fumes of the chloroform. 

In all operations lasting any length of time, whether in 
the horse or the cow, humanity and fine feeling demand 
the outlay for a little chloroform. It is not necessary to 
completely destroy all feeling — just sufficient to blunt the 
sensibility of the nerve centers. 



Cholagogues. 



Medicines which increase the flow of bile. 
Examples : Calomel, podophyllin, irridin, leptandrin, 
etc. 

Cinchona. 



Peruvian, or Jesuit Bark.— rThere are several barks 
of cinchona, used in medicine, and from which the sulphate 
of quinine is made. Cinchona, or its barks, are not used 
in horse and cattle diseases. 

Quinine is the only preparation used ; but its high price 
is against its general use in veterinary practice. Among 



496 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

valuable horses, it is frequently used to hasten recovery 
from influenza, lung- fever, etc. 

Dose. — ^Twenty to forty grains, repeated from three to 
four times a day. 

Quinine is apt to be adulterated with arsenic, as proved 
to be the case with many samples used during the late 



war. 



Cochineal. 



An insect used as a dye for coloring tinctures and other 
medicines for the purpose of deception. Druggists color 
water with it, for filling the show bottles usually found in 
their store windows. 



Cod Liver Oil. 



In all animals, cod liver oil increases fat and flesh. In 
diseases aflecting digestion and assimilation cod liver oil 
can be of no use. It materially relieves broken wind or 
heaves in horses. For hastening, or forcing animals 
intended for show, cod liver oil is just what is wanted, as 
it not only hastens the fattening process, but increases the 
quality and appearance of the meat. 

Dose. — For swine, two ounces daily. For small pigs, 
one ounce. 

Colchicum— Meadow SaflFron. 

The seeds and root are the parts usually employed in 
medicine, sometimes in powder ; but the best is in the form 
of tincture. 

Use. — Given in all rheumatic affections of the joints, and 
in lumbago, and also in diseases of the eye of the horse, 
depending on rheumatism of that organ. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 497 

Dose. — Of the crom or seed in powder for horses and 
cattle, the dose is from one to two drachms, given in the 
animal's feed twice in the day, for a week or two. The 
wine of colchicum will answer for the dog, in from five to 
fifteen drop doses, twice a day, in a little water. 



Collodion. 



Use. — Collodion is used for dressing wounds and cuts, 
instead of sticking plaster, and is applied in the following 
manner: Clip the hair from the edges of the wound, take 
a camel's hair pencil, or a soft brush, and paint the surface 
and edges of the wound well, and in a few minutes, the 
ether, which holds the gun-cotton in solution, evaporates, 
leaving over the sore a complete covering, resembling the 
gold-beater's skin, thus completely shielding the sore from 
the action of the air. Hence, its value. 



Copper, Sulphate of— (Blue Vitriol). 



This is one of the most useful articles that can be used 
in horse and cattle diseases, both internally and externally. 
Internally used, sulphate of copper is a powerful tonic and 
builder up of the system, and is recommended in all dis- 
eases characterized by a low state of the system. Farcy, 
glanders, purpura, etc., in the horse have, in several cases, 
yielded to its effects. Sulphate of copper should never be 
given alone, but should be combined with gentian or ginger. 
After the fever has passed off in cases of pleuro-pneumonia 
the sulphate of copper is an excellent medicine to support 
the vital powers, and prevent effusions in the chest, which 
is the cause of death, in most cases, from this disease. 

Dose. — ^In horses and cattle, one to three drachms are 
the proper doses, given twice in the day. 



498 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The external use of the sulphate of copper is often 
called for as a caustic in wounds and sores growing proud 
flesh, which are readily controlled by it, simply by touching 
the parts with a piece of the crystal in powder, or in 
solution. 

For diseases of the eye I think it has no superior. For 
this purpose use three grains of the powdered sulphate to 
an ounce of rain water, and apply with a soft feather, or, 
what is better, a camel's hair pencil. 

For wounds which have no proud flesh in them, eight 
to ten grains to the ounce of water is a good and cheap 
application. 

Copper, Acetate of. — This is used only for sores in 
the form of an ointment. Take of the acetate or verdigris 
one drachm, and add to it an ounce of the simple ointment. 
I have known sores to heal from its use which have bid 
defiance to almost every other application. 



Coriander. 



The Seeds. — This is a useful article, and may be con- 
sidered an excellent medicine for young calves having weak 
stomachs. The bruised seeds should be given, in two 
drachm doses, in the milk which is given to the calf. 



Creosote. 



This is a peculiar smelling fluid derived from tar. 
Creosote has had the credit of curing glanders in man, and 
is a good remedy in pleuro-pneumonia in cattle, but we 
have better ones, and not so costly. Cases of farcy and 
glanders in the horse are greatly benefited by its use. 

For horses and cattle, use from one to one and a half 
drachms, made into a mass, with flour and molasses, and 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 499 

the whole crumbled down into some gruel. Make a drench, 
to be poured down the throat. 

As an external remedy, it is of great advantage in 
mange, sores, ulcers, caries of the bones, canker, thrush in 
the horse's feet, and the foot-rot so troublesome in sheep. 
Indeed, the more the virtues of creosote are known to 
farmers, raisers and breeders of stock, the more will it be 
valued and the greater will be the advantages derived from 
it. (See Prescriptions.) 

Croton Oil. 

A DANGEROUS medicine when improperly used, but a 
useful one, nevertheless, when the hasty action of the 
bowels is wanted, as in milk fever in cows. 

Dose. — For the cow ten to fifteen drops, given along 
with epsom or glauber salts. 

Digitalis— (Digitalis Purpura). 

The action of this powerful medicine has been much 
sought for as a sedative in lung diseases ; but since we 
have become acquainted with the superior qualities of 
aconite, digitalis is not now worth keeping in the veterin- 
ary Metcria Medica. Moreover, digitalis is a dangerous 
medicine, from the fact that it accumulates in the system, 
for a time, and all at once its effect is manifested in the 
weak action of the heart, so that in many cases the heart 
ceases to beat altogether. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, twenty grains of the 
powdered leaves. 

Disinfectants. 



I HAVE, in two portions of this book, referred to the 
importance of a better acquaintance on the part of farmers 
and stock raisers with this subject. 



500 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Volatile Disinfectants may be divided as follows : 

1. Chlorine. 

2. Nitrous acid fumes. 
3- Sulphurous acid. 

These diffuse themselves through the air of stables and 
barns, and neutralize the poisonous gases which are given 
off from the excrement of animals, whether in health or 
disease. 

Fixed Disinfectants. — These are such as can be 
mixed with the excreta and decaying matter, without 
destroying them for manure. 

1. Perchloride of iron. 

2. Permanganate of potash. 

3. Gypsum — Sulphate of lime. This is not a great 
one, but it is useful. 

4. Charcoal. This, in fine powder, should be thrown 
into damp stables and barn-yards, as it will not only 
remove unpleasant smells, but will make good manure. 
Refuse tan bark and other vegetable substances, made 
into charcoal, is cheap, and of great utility as a disin- 
fectant, and adds much to the quantity and value of the 
manure. 

Fixed, but Noxious Disinfectants. — These are disin- 
fectants which, when mixed with manure, render it valueless 
as such. 

1. Chloride of Zinc. (Burnet's Disinfectant Fluid.) 

2. Nitrate of Lead. (Ledoyer's Disinfectant.) 

3. Sulphate of Copper, and Zinc Solution. (Larnaudes.) 
Chlorinated Soda Solution may be mixed with manure, 

without destroying its qualities as such. 

Chloride of Lime. Solid, or in powder, does not destroy 
the manuring qualities of vegetal, and other materials 
usually converted into manures. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 50 1 



Diuretics. 



Medicines, which, when given to animals, increase the 
flow of urine. They are used in cases of swellings and 
dropsies of the body and legs of horses. 

Elecampane— (Inula Helenium). 



The root of this plant is highly thought of, and much 
used, by horsemen, in coughs and colds. Some make a 
tea of it, or decoction, and give it to the horse to drink. 
It is certainly a warm and grateful aromatic, and a good 
expectorant. The plant should be gathered when the seed 
is ripening. 

Slippery Elm Bark. 



This bark, when scalded with hot water, makes a useful 
poultice for irritable wounds, ulcers and sores. A decoc- 
tion of the bark will answer every purpose for which 
flaxseed or linseed is used, or recommended, as in diseases 
of the kidneys, and bladder, produced by the use of 
Spanish fly, and from over-dosing with rosin, and other 
diuretics. In diarrhea, in all animals, slippery elm tea, or 
decoction, will serve a good purpose, by sheathing the 
covering of the bowels, which is apt to become irritated 
and inflamed in violent superpurgation. 

Emetics. 



Medicines which produce voiniting. Horses, cattle and 
sheep cannot vomit whilst the stomach remains entire. In 
cases of rupture of that viscus, however, vomiting is 
occasionally seen. Emetics are useful in diseases of the 
dog and swine. Tartar emetic, or sulphate of zinc, given 



502 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

in from two to five grain doses, will cause dogs and swine 
to vomit. 

Epsom Salts — (Sulphate of Magnesia). 



This is a valuable medicine, in diseases of cattle and 
sheep. No other purgative should ever be thought of, or 
given to either cattle or sheep. Even supposing other 
purgatives to be as good, none, certainly, can be so cheap 
as epsom and glauber salts, or the sulphate of soda. For 
all purgative purposes, the one is as good as the other. 
Salts should be largely diluted with water; for the quantity 
of fluid given with them facilitates their operation. In 
domestic practice, half an ounce of salts, in one tumbler 
full of water, will operate as strongly as one ounce, in half 
the quantity of water. 

Doses. — For ordinary sized cows, one to two pounds is 
the dose, mixed with four quarts of cold water ; one ounce 
of ginger in powder, and the whole sweetened with molas- 
ses, or coarse sugar. For average sized calves, two to four 
ounces ; for sheep, four to six ounces. A few drops of 
commercial sulphuric acid — say twenty to sixty drops — will 
greatly remove the nauseous taste. 

Ergot. 



Diseased Rye. — This is a curious, as well as a valuable 
medicine. 

Use. — In the calving, lambing, and foaling season, it is 
sometimes of great service, but should be carefully han- 
dled ; as, for instance, if .given to any animal about to 
deliver her young, and when the mouth of the womb con- 
taining the young is not sufficiently opened, the adminis- 
tration of this remedy would be attended with extreme 
danger, as the womb, by the powerful contraction set up, 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 503 

caused by the ergot to expel its contents, would likely be 
ruptured or torn, followed by the death of the animal. 
When the animal seems to have exhausted its strength, 
and the passage is open, and the young is coming in a 
natural way, then only should the ergot be given. If there 
should be a malformation in the young, or in the pelvis of 
the mother, it would be equally unwise to give ergot. 

Doses. — For a mare or cow, half to one ounce of the 
powder is the dose. For sheep, swine, and large-sized 
bitches, one drachm is the dose. Small bitches, ten to 
thirty grains. 

Essential Oils — (Volatile Oils). 



( See Oils.) 

Ether — (Sulphuric Ether). 

This is a valuable article of the veterinary materia 
medica, and is used in diseases of all the animals. 

Use. — It is used as a stimulant, and is given in weak- 
ness, fevers, and in colic, as an antispasmodic. Ether is 
scarcely strong enough to produce anesthesia in horses 
and cattle. 

Dose. — For horses and cattle, one to two ounces is the 
dose as a stimulant, and antispasmodic. Ether should be 
given in cold water, to prevent its volatilization on its 
exposure to the air. Twice its own volume of alcohol 
added to it makes the spirit of sulphuric ether. 

Euphorbium. 



A resinotis juice, expressed from a cactus-like vegeta- 
ble which grows in Morocco. 

Use. — This is only used for external purposes, and is 



S04 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

among the very few articles in veterinary medicines capa- 
ble of blistering the thick skin of the ox. 

Expectorants. 



This is a class of useful medicines, which cause a sepa- 
ration of the mucus from the throat, and air passages, 
thereby relieving cough and other symptoms usually 
attendant upon throat diseases. 

Febrifuges. 



Medicines capable of relieving fever. 

Fenugreek. 



The seeds of this annual plant, found growing in the 
south of Europe, is a useful cattle medicine, given in one 
ounce doses, for loss of appetite, ephemeral fevers, etc. 
It is usually, however, combined with ginger, gentian, and 
other medicines of that class. 

Fern. 



The Male — Aspidium Felix Mas. 

Use. — Given to animals affected with worms. A good 
remedy. 

Doses. — For the horse, one pound of the root in powder 
is the dose. For sheep, three to five ounces. For the dog, 
with tape-worm, it is invaluable, destroying the| worm in 
two hours. A purgative should be given next day. 

Friar's Balsam. 



This is the compound tincture of benzoin, and is an 
excellent article when applied to sores and wounds, as the 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 505 

fluid soon evaporates, and leaves a resinous covering' over 
the wound, thus shielding it from the action of the air. 
(See Benzoin.) 

Galbanum. 



A DRIED juice, having medicinal properties similar to 
asafoetida. 

Galls— Nut Galls. 



These are rough excrescences on oak trees, resulting 
from holes being made in the bark by an insect. 

Use. — A powerful astringent, binding the bowels of all 
animals affected with dysentery and diarrhea. Also a 
good application to the greasy heels of horses. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, powdered galls are given 
in from four to six drachms. For sheep and swine, thirty 
to sixty grains. When externally applied the powdered 
nut may be sprinkled on the sore. 



Gallic Acitt. 

(See Tannin.) 



Gamboge. 



This is a gum resin from a tree growing in the Island 
of Ceylon. 

Use. — A useful purgative for cattle. (See Epsom 
Salts.) 

Doses. — For cattle, six to eight drachms is the dose. 
For sheep, thirty grains, given in solution ; should be 
given with other medicines of the same class. 



506 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Gentian Root— Gentiana Lutea. 



This is an invaluable medicine in the treatment of dis- 
eases of horses and cattle, where the appetite is to be 
restored and kept up. In debility, weakness, swellings of 
the legs and body, and where the stomach is out of order, 
as is the case so often in fevers, and as a sequel to debili- 
tating diseases, gentian, combined with iron, is an excellent 
tonic, and cheap, Gentian, combined with ammonia and 
pimenta berries, will make a horse eat almost whether he 
will or not. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, half to one ounce is the 
dose, repeating it three times in the day. For sheep, one 
drachm. For dogs, five to ten grains. For horses and 
cattle, it is best given mixed in gruel, and in a drench out 
of a strong-necked bottle. Gentian root should enter into 
all condition powders. 

The colleges order a tincture to be made, but the powder 
is all that is wanted in the treatment of horse and cattle 
diseases. 

Ginger— Zingiberis. 



A WELL-KNOWN root, and a useful article to have m the 
house. 

Use. — Ginger is given in cases of gripes, or colic, 
whether in horses or cattle, and should enter every dose 
of purgative medicine given to all the animals. Ginger is 
useful in loss of appetite in horses, and in calves is an 
excellent medicine to give with chalk, and other things, in 
scours, or diarrhea. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, one to two ounces is the 
dose; for sheep, two drachms; for calves of three months 
old, one drachm, and for younger ones less. The essence 
of ginger, of the drug shops, is well adapted to use, as the 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. v S07 

active principle of the ginger is given without so much 
inert or dead matter. 

Glauber's Salts — Sulphate of Soda. 



A GOOD purgative for cattle and sheep. (See Epsom 
Salts.) 

Glycerine. • 



A FLUID which scarcely ever dries up, and is the sac- 
charine principle of fats. Bower's glycerine is the best in 
the American market, and is inodorous, or without smell, 
which is the best indication of its purity. 

Use. — Many sores on all animals readily heal by the 
application of glycerine, especially scratches, and sores 
about the heels of horses. Glycerine will be found invalu- 
able for the use of companies, in all our cities, having horse 
railroads, where the authorities allow the use of salt on 
the streets for the removal of snow. The slush so- formed 
first chills, then scalds the skin of the heels, so that in a 
short time the skin cracks, and nasty sores are the result, 
which are difficult to cure. To prevent this condition of 
things, and to protect the heelsof horses from the injurious 
effects of the salt and slush, the application of glycerine 
should be made to the heels morning and mid-day, whilst 
the salt, slush, and snow are upon the streets. 

Tincture of Guaiacum. 



This is a resin and valuable medicine in cases of rheu- 
matism in old horses, and in rheumatic lameness in dogs. 

Doses. — For horses, the dose of the tincture will be half 
an ounce twice in the day, given in cut feed, or in a drench 
with cold water. For dogs, ten to twenty drops, given in 
a spoonful of cold water or soup. 



SoS THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Gum Arabic — (Gum Acacia). 



This is an importation from Alexandria, in Egypt. 
There are several varieties of gum. 

Gum Senegal. 



This is similar to the above. 



Gum Tragacanth. 



This is another variety of gum. 

Use. — The gums are demulcents, emollient and sooth- 
ing to an inflamed part, as the bowels in diarrhea, the 
kidneys and bladder, when diseased and irritated. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, from one to two ounces. 
For calves and sheep, four drachms. Gum should be 
given, dissolved in warm water, and drenched out of a 
bottle or ox-horn. 

Hartshorn. 



This is an impure solution of ammonia. (See Am- 
monia.) 

Hellebore — Hellebrosus Niger. 



Recommended in poll-evil, wherein a piece of the root 
is to be inserted in the fistulous opening. No dependence 
should be placed in it. Better agents are at hand. 

Hemlock — Conium Maculatum. 



Formerly recommended in inflammation. It is of bene- 
fit in the form of a poultice to cancerous sores. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. Jog 



Hemp, Indian — (Cannabis Indica). 



The colleges order a tincture and an extract. In the 
seat of Europe, the resin of the plant is known as churrus, 
and its preparations are known as gunjoii, bang and haclt- 
ish. According to the accounts which have reached us, in 
regard to the use of this article, no such action can be pro- 
duced upon man from any preparation of hemp in use in 
America, as is represented to be produced among the sub- 
jects of His Majesty, the Sultan of Turkey. The genuine 
preparations of Indian hemp produce in man great excite- 
ment, high spirits, great laughter, talkativeness, pleasing 
thoughts, and a great appetite for food and sexual excite- 
ment, followed by sleep, from which the person recovers 
without any unpleasant effects. Experiments instituted 
by the writer with this medicine upon horses do not 
warrant its introduction into the list of horse and cattle 
medicines. 



Henbane — (Hyoscyamus Niger.) 



An extract and a tincture is ordered to be kept in the 
drug stores. Hyoscyamus is indicated in all cases where 
belladonna is used. It has, however, little effect upon 
animals chewing the cud. To horses, it is occasionally 
given to relieve cough and irritation of the throat or 
windpipe. 

Dose. — For horses, one or two drachms of the extract 
is the dose, which should be given, rubbed down in a little 
cold water, and repeated several times in the day. Better 
drugs and less expensive ones, answer a better purpose. 
This medicine was formerly relied upon for the cure of 
insane persons, but is now almost discarded for that 
purpose. 



SIO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Iodine. 



A CHEMICAL preparation manufactured from kelp or sea- 
weed and used both rightfully and wrongfully in many 
diseases. However, iodine itself is, I think, of little value 
as a medicine, but when united chemically with iron, cop- 
per, mercury, lead, arsenic and potassium, it certainly is 
one of the most useful and indispensable of medical agents, 
given internally, and applied externally. 

Dose. — Iodine is given to the horse and ox in from 
twenty to forty grains ; for dogs, use from three to six 
grains. An ointment of iodine is made as follows: Take 
one part of iodine to eight parts of lard. This is a good 
ointment to apply to soft swellings on the body of the 
horse, and should be applied by rubbing with the hand. 



Iodide of Potassium— (Hydriodate of Potash). 

This is a chemical union of potash with iodine, a 
costly remedy for horse and cattle diseases, and in most 
cases can be done very well without. Its action is that of 
an absorbent, and it is, therefore, used in swelling of the 
glands, and other parts of the body. To get its full bene- 
fit, it should be given in syrup or molasses, so that the 
iodine will not be lost, leaving the water only behind. 

Dose. — From twenty to thirty grains for horses and 
cattle, repeated three times in the day. For the dog, five 
grains. 

Iodide of Arsenic. — Highly recommended by some 
persons for glanders, farcy and purpura in the horse. 

Dose. — Five grains given once a day, in cut or mixed 
feed. 

Iodide of Copper. — A valuable remedy, but costly. 
It should be used only for valuable horses, in cases of 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 5ll 

debility and loss of condition, mingled with cut or mixed 
feed. 

Dose. — From one to two drachms, given twice or three 
times in the day. 

Iodide of Iron. — This is even more valuable than that 
of the iodide of copper, and is given for the same purpose, 
and in the same doses. To use the iodide of iron once 
will insure its use again. Its high price is the only draw- 
back. Iodide of iron enters into the powders and balls 
which are given to the English race-horses, whilst in the 
trainer's hands — a high recommendation. 

Iodide of Sulphur. — A valuable remedy in mange, 
and other skin diseases, which may be given internally, 
also, in the same disease. 

Dose. — For horses, give two to four drachms in the 
animal's feed. For mangy dogs, give ten to fifteen grains 
once a day. Give it at night, as warmth assists its action 
very much. 

Iodide of Lead. — Too weak for veterinary practice, 
but excellent for swellings on the body of man. It is only 
used externally. Iodide of lead is of a beautiful yellow 
color. 

Iodide of Mercury. — Bin-Iodide of Mercury — Red 
Iodide of Mercury, etc. This preparation of iodine is a 
medicine that the educated veterinary surgeon cannot do 
without in the practice of his profession ; for there is noth- 
ing which will so well meet his wants. Iodide of mercury 
is not used internally, in any disease, as calomel contains 
the same internal action as that of the iodide. 

Use. — It is used in all cases of induration and swelling 
of the glands of the neck ; tumors, whether of bone or soft 
tissue ; splints, spavins, ring-bones, wind-galls, shoulder- 
joint lameness, or thoroughpin, and will answer well for an 
ordinary blister, for whatever purpose. The only objection 



Sl2 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

to it, as a blister over an extensive surface, is its painful 
operation. 

Iodide of mercury is used as an ointment as follows: 
One part of the red iodide of mercury to eight parts of 
hog's lard, well mixed together. This ointment is to be 
well rubbed into the parts to be cured ; swelling will 
follow its action, but will subside in a few days, if one 
application be enough — which will be known, if the 
enlargement has been broken or has disappeared. If not, 
apply in from five to six days again, scarcely rubbing so 
hard as at the first application, as the skin is more easily 
acted upon this time. But whether one, two, or half a 
dozen applications be necessary, let sufficient time elapse 
before each succeeding application so as not to prevent'the 
hair growing, thereby blemishing the part. Apply lard 
once a day between each application, and occasionally wash 
the parts with water, not too warm, and lard or oil the part 
when dry. The horse's head should be tied up, so that he 
cannot get at the parts with his mouth. A few hours will 
be long enough. Place plenty of soft bedding under the 
feet, to that, by stamping, the horse will not break or hurt 
his feet. 

Observe. — When, apparently, the tumor, gland, or other 
enlargement, does not disappear or go away at once, sur- 
prise is sometimes expressed to see it totally go away, as 
if of its own accord. Thus the red iodide of mercury 
exercises a powerful influence, long after its use has been 
dispensed with. Iodide of mercury occupies, in my esti- 
mation, in external diseases, as prominent a position as the 
preparations of aconite do in internal affections, whether in 
horses or cattle. 

Several other preparations of iodide are made by the 
manufacturing chemists ; such as the iodide of gold and 
silver — which are of no use in horse and cattle dis- 
eases. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 513 

Ipecacuanha — (Cephaelis Ipecacuanha). 



In veterinary practice, ipecacuanha is only used for 
dogs, in fifteen to thirty grains, as an emetic, when first 
attacked with distemper. 

Iron — (Perrum). 



This is one of the most valuable medicines we have to 
recommend, in many of the most important diseases of all 
the animals ; a fact readily seen, when it is stated that iron 
is a constituent of the blood of all warm-blooded animals, 
and without iron being in proper quantity in the blood of 
an animal, it cannot be healthy — \s aiicetnic, or impover- 
ished in blood. In fact, iron is an elementary principle, 
essential to health. 

Metallic iron is rarely used in veterinary practice, 
except it be in the form of iron filings, given by some 
persons in cases of worms in horses. The sulphate is just 
as good for this purpose. Iron filings, called Fcrrutn 
Redactum, are much used in the weakly and sickly female. 
To prevent the filings from oxidizing, or rusting, they are 
put into a tube, similar to a gun-barrel, at a strong heat, 
and are then plunged into cold water, which gives them a 
sky-blue color; the finer the blue, the better the medicine. 
For the valuable dog, iron filings, in this form, may be 
given, in from five to ten grain doses. The following 
preparation of iron will be used for the horse and ox : 

1. Carbonate of Iron. — Fcrri Carbonas. This pre- 
paration of iron is only used in verinary practice, for the 
dog, on account of its mildness, 

2. Sesquioxide of Iron. — Rust of Iron — Ferugo. This 
form of iron is only used by veterinary surgeons, in 
poisoning from arsenic, as an antidote, by forming in the 
stomach an insoluble arsenite of the protoxide of iron. 



5 14 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

3. Sulphate of Iron. — Ferri Sulphas — Green Vitrol- 
Coppcras. This is one of the best and cheapest prepara- 
tions of this valuable metal, that can be used in diseases of 
horses and cattle. 

Use. — In medicinal doses the sulphate of iron is tonic 
and astringent ; therefore, it is used in cases of weakness, 
want of condition, looseness of the bowels, swellings of 
legs, body, sheath, breast, etc. It is improving, adding 
richness to the blood, and giving tonicity and health to the 
fibrous, serous tissues, from which the fluid causing the 
swelling arises. In pleuro-pneumonia in cattle, after fever 
has abated, nothing will restore and prevent effusions of 
serum, or fluid, in the chest, like sulphate of iron ; and 
effusions in the chest of cows, and neat cattle, is the cause 
of very many deaths. The effusions form connecting links 
between the lungs and the sides, from which adhesions 
take place in that disease, and from which the animal can 
never be restored to good health, although it may live for 
a year or two. How important, then, is a medicine offering 
so much hope! 

In addition to the diseases just named, sulphate of iron 
is the medicine to be used in all cases where the powers 
of life are low and depressed. In red water in cattle, 
bleeding internally in all animals, dysentery, purpura, 
scarlatina, and in debilitating diseases generally, no medi- 
cine offers so much as the sulphate of iron. 

Observe. — Sulphate of iron should not be given while 
inflammation and fever lasts ; it is time enough to give it 
after all irritation has subsided. It should always be com- 
bined with a vegetable tonic, such as gentian, or ginger. 
Iron changes the dung to a green color, as if the animal 
was at pasture. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, the dose is two to three 
drachms, with the same quantity of powdered gentian, two 
to three times in the day, to be given, mixed in a quan- 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 515 

tity of cold water. Drench out of a bottle, if the animal 
does not eat it readily, mixed with cut or soft feed. 

4. Perchloride of Iron. — Whether in a fluid or solid 
statej this preparation is valuable for bleeding wounds, to 
stop the flow of blood — which it will readily do, if properly 
applied, and the blood vessel that is wounded is not too 
large. It should be applied with a soft brush, or a pledget 
of soft cloth or cotton dipped in it and laid over the 
wound, and kept bandaged. Perchloride of iron should 
be kept in every farm, or country house, for this purpose. 
It should be kept in a glass-stoppered bottle to keep it 
pure. 

Jalap— (Con vulvul us Jalapse). 



This root derives its name from a town in Mexico, called 
Xalapa, and grows fully six thousand feet above the sea 
level. It is, in veterinary practice, used only as a purge 
for the dog, in from twenty to sixty grains. 



Juniper Berries — (Juniperis Communis — The Fruit). 



This medicine is valuable in horse and cattle diseases, 
as a stimulant to the stomach in loss of appetite, and in 
convalescence from debilitating diseases. 

Dose. — For horses and cattle, one to two ounces is a 
dose. Dogs, twenty to forty grains. 



Eino. 



A JUICE of several plants. This is used as an astrin- 
gent in diarrhea in all animals, and is considered more 
powerful than catechu (which see). 



5l6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Kousso. 



The flowers of this plant are brought from Abyssinia. 

Use. — - To expel, or destroy tape-worm in man, and the 
dog, and is prepared and used in the following manner : 
Take of kousso half an ounce, of warm water half a pint, 
let it stand till cool, and give it, flowers and all ; and give 
next day a dose of castor-oil. 

Laudanum. 



(See Opium.) 

Laxative. 

A MILD purge. 

Lead — (Plumbum). 

Metallic lead in the form of shot, is used by our horse 
dealers, to relieve temporarily the heaving, or symptoms 
of broken wind, or heaves in horses. It will be needless 
for me to say, that if the lead is not speedily converted into 
an insoluble oxide, the animals so treated will die in a 
month or two. (See Lead Poisoning.) 

Acetate of Lead — (Sugar of Lead). 



Solution of acetate of lead is known by the name of 
Goulard's Extract of Lead, and was formerly, and is still 
by some persons recommended, and used in cases of 
sprains, and as a wash for diseased eyes. Better and less 
injurious agents are now used by the educated veterinary 
surgeon. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 517 

Goulard's Extract, or lead-water, should never be used 
in diseases of the eye, as it can do no good beyond what 
cold water can do, but it dulls the eye, by making it hazy 
and opaque. It will be well to remember this, and act 
upon it, not minding what old and antiquated books and 
individuals may say or think in regard to what is here 
recommended. 

Linseed — (Linum Usitatissimum) . 



Ground flaxseed makes the best poultice, as it is less 
irritable and retains its moisture better than most articles 
in use for that purpose. 

Cake Meal. — -That portion which is kept after the oil 
has been expressed from the seed, is a good feed for horses 
and cows, given occasionally, and makes a good and much 
cheaper poultice than the most costly* seed. 

Oxide of Lead. 



This preparation of lead is used in the manufacture of 
common sticking plaster, or Diachylon, 

Iodide of Lead. 

(See Iodine.) 

Linseed Oil — (Oleum Lini). 



This is a good and safe purgative for the horse, and 
should be given by farmers and non-professional persons 
in preference to any other article. The English veterinary 
surgeons use linseed oil for colic in the horse, in the follow- 
ing combination: Linseed oil, one pint, and two ounces 
each of oil of turpentine and laudanum. In cases of chok- 



5l8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. • 

ing, in either horses or cattle, a half pint of linseed oil 
should be poured down the throat, so that by its emollient 
properties the substance may pass readily down the gullet. 
For horses, one to two pints is the dose used for a purga- 
tive. For scalds and burns, linseed oil is mixed with 
lime-water. 

Liquorice Root — ( Glycyrrhiza Radix). 

This was formerly in use for making balls for horses, 
but it is now superseded by molasses. 

Lobelia Liflata— (Indian Tobacco). 



This medicine is in great use by the eclectic physicians 
in the United States as an emetic, which fact, I believe, 
has induced Dr. Dadd to recommend it to veterinary 
surgeons and horsemen of this country. Does the doctor 
not yet know that the horse, the ox and the sheep cannot 
vomit? Therefore, it is not entitled to a position, for such 
purpose, in the veterinary Materia Mcdica. 

Logwood — (Hoematoxylon Campechianum). 



This is a valuable medicine not well known, and con- 
sequently not appreciated. One of the very best astringents 
for binding the bowels in diarrhea and dysentery, in all 
animals, and especially when accompanied with irritation 
of the bowels. Logwood is cheap, sold in chips, and is 
prepared anei given in the following manner: 

Logwood chips, two ounces ; boiling water, one pint. 
Allow it to stand till cold, then strain through cloth, or a 
fine sieve. For horses and cows, this quantity will make 
one dose. For calves with scours, one to three ounces 
will be the dose, which repeat if the case demands it. A 
safe remedy, and cheap. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 519 



Lupuline — (The Hop). 

Makes a good poultice, applied to the udders of cows, 
when lumpy and hard. It hastens the suppurative 
process. 

Magnesia— (Oxide of Magnesium). 



Used sometimes in young foals and calves, when they 
have no appetite. A good antidote for arsenical poison- 
ing. For these animals, two drachms to six is the dose. 
A little ginger should be added to it to prevent griping. 

Carbonate of Magnesia. — Magnesia Alba. The 
action of this is similar to the preceding. Sulphate of 
Magnesia. (See Epsom Salts.) 

Manganese. 



A metal used as a disinfectant, in combination with 
some one of the mineral acids. For the way to use it, see 
Disinfectants. 



Marsh Mallow— (The Root of Althea Officinalis). 



Used in the form of an ointment, but not of much 
utility. It, however, still holds a place in horse and cattle 
medicines. It can be done without. 

Marigold— (Calendula Officinalis). 



A garden plant. Tincture of Marigold. This is a good 
application to sores, ulcers and abscesses, and is applied 
with soft cloths, saturated or moistened with it, and laid 
over the affected part. It is a new remedy in burns and 
scalds. 



520 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Mercury. 



A LIQUID metal called quicksilver. In its metallic state 
it is not used as a medicine. There, however, is a preva- 
lent idea in the minds of ignorant persons that doctors and 
veterinary surgeons give this substance to force a passage 
through the bowels, and that if it fails, the bowels and 
stomach will be ruptured or torn. If the patient should 
die, the blame is not unfrequently laid on the use of quick- 
silver by the doctor, when this substance was never 
thought of for any such purpose. Quicksilver has no 
action whatever on the animal system, either in health or 
sickness. 

Mercury With Chalk. — Gray Powder. ' Used in 
diarrhea in calves, in doses from ten to fifteen grains, 
given with a little ginger, and mixed with wheat-flour 
gruel. Iodide of Mercury. (See Iodine.) 



Bi-Chloride of Mercury — (Corrosive Sublimate). 



A dangerous poison, and should never be given to 
any animal. It is, however, used in solution, in some skin 
diseases, as in ring-worm and mange. When so used, 
only a small portion of the body should be washed with it 
in one day. For this purpose, take four grains of the 
sublimate to two ounces of rain water. For a dog, two 
grains to the ounce, in water, will be strong enough. 
Nitrate of Mercury. Ointment. This is the citron or 
golden ointment, and is a good remedy, in ring-worm. 
Unfortunately, however, it spoils with long keeping, and 
not being made extemporaneously, it is often rancid and of 
little value. , 

Oxide of Mercury. — Red Precipitate. Used in the 
treatment of unhealtliy ulcers and sores, in the form of 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 521 

powder and ointment. It is the principle in the yellow 
wash already spoken of in connection with the subject of 
lime (which see). Sulphate of Mercury, Turbitk Mineral, 
a medicine of no use, which should be expunged from the 
books on horse and cattle diseases. Sub-Chloride of Mer- 
cury {Calomel), 2l medicine I never use, and will not recom- 
mend for hitemal administration. In the form of the black 
wash, and sprinkled upon sores, it is a good remedy. Cal- 
omel is recommended for thrush in the feet of horses, 
and is inserted in the cleft of the frog. 



Mercurial Ointment. 



This is sold in the drug stores. The ointment of mer- 
cury is chiefly used in skin diseases, as mange in horses 
and dogs. But a better remedy will be found in sulphur, 
and its preparations, which are not only more safe, but more 
certain of curing the case. 



Mezeron— Daphne Mezerum. 



A PLANT, from the bark of which an extract is made, 
and from the extract an ointment composed of one drachm 
to four parts of lard, which is used fo*' the purpose of keep- 
ing up the irritation of blisters. 



Mustard Seed— Sinapis Nigra. 



Used as an irritant on parts of the body, where the 
Spanish fly would be improper and dangerous. On the 
belly, and over the loins, are the usual places where mus- 
tard is applied. In lumbago, and sprains of the back and 
loins, and in pain in the bowels, mustard is useful. The 
mode of application of mustard is as follows: If the hair 



522 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of the part be long, cut it off, then foment the part with 
warm water, and immediately rub into the parts a handful 
of the best flour of mustard. This is more effectual than 
laying a paste or poultice without rubbing. 

Volatile Oil of Mustard makes a good counter-irritant, 
when a few drops are rubbed into the skin. Vinegar added 
to mustard does not, as is thought, produce a better effect. 
Warm water answers every purpose. 

Myrrhs 



A GUM-RESIN, used in the form of a tincture, and a com- 
pound tincture, for sores, and a good application in sore 
mouth from the bit, or other cause. 

Narcotics. 

rt.RE medicines which act upon the brain, and thereby 
allay pain. Example: Opium, and its preparations ; acon- 
ite, and chloroform. 

Neatsfoot Oil. 



Used for skin diseases, and for allaying the irritation of 
blisters, and keeping the skin from cracking. 

Nervines. 



Medicines relieving pain, without producing narcot- 
ism. 

Nitre — Saltpetre. 

This medicine has long been used as a diuretic, and as 
a febrifuge in low fevers. Cheaper and better medicines 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 523 

are daily in use for this purpose. Nitre is not a cheap medi- 
cine, nor yet is it an indispensable one. The days are long 
since past when emetic, tartar, nitre and digitalis were the 
remedies used in all cases of inflammation, irritation and 
fever. This formula has in its day deceived many a man, 
and has been the means whereby many thousands of valu- 
able animals have been lost. Wherever nitre is indicated, 
I use the sulphite of soda, and have no cause to regret the 
change. A bundle of fresh-cut grass given to a horse will 
have a better and more soothing effect than nitre. Instead 
of being given in any disease, nitre should be left to fulfill 
its destiny in the making of gun-powder to liberate the 
toiling millions of other lands from the hands of the despot 
and the oppressor. 

Nitric Acid. 



(See Acids.) 



Nux Vomica— Strychos Nux Vomica. 



An active poison in large doses, but a valuable agent in 
the cure of diseases in all animals. The powdered nut is 
uncertain in its effects, therefore the tincture and the 
alkaloid should only be used. 

Use. — A nervine, and used when the nerves are 
depressed and weak, just as aconite is used when the 
nerves are strong and excited. The one medicine is used 
in depression, and the other in diseases with exalted 
symptoms. Paralysis or palsy is the loss of power in the 
motor nerves of the part affected. Therefore, nux vomica 
is used in twitching of the muscles of all animals ; and in 
glass eye in the horse, depending upon the want of nervous 
energy in the optic, or nerve of vision. 



524 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Tincture. — Dose. — For horses and cattle, the dose is 
from ten to twenty drops, repeated three to four times in 
the day. 

Strychnine. — Dose. — To horses and cattle, give one 
grain, once a day, gradually increasing the dose till three 
grains are given in the day. To get the full benefit from 
it, it will have to be given for a week or two, if the beast 
has not got well by that time. In the use of strychnine, 
care and good judgment must be exercised, for it must be 
remembered that however useful a drug or medicine may 
be, its abuse is readily accomplished. Strychnine should 
be administered in feed, if the animal will eat it ; if not, 
give it in gruel in the form of a drench. Twelve grains is 
the dose required to kill a full grown horse. 

Arsenite of Strychnia is recommended by the French 
veterinary surgeons, in nasal discharges, but with what 
effect is not stated. If it does not cure, as I suppose it 
does not, it only serves to show to my mind how utterly 
ignorant veterinary surgeons are in regard to the true 
pathology of these discharges, supposed to be glanders. 
Mr. Gangee, on the International Veterinary Congress, 
held at Hamburg, says : " When the subject of glanders 
was mentioned, no one responded." Why? certainly not 
that they knew all about it. No, the contrary is the case, 
for they knew nothing at all about its nature, and hence 
we have the French using a drug the least of all likely to 
change, arrest, or cure the disease. Prussian blue is said 
to contain ten per cent, of strychnia ; some packages 
contain as high as sixty grains. 



Oak Bark— Quercus Cortex. 



This is a good astringent for outward use, or for use, 
or for sores which discharge or run matter. The bark is 
boiled: half an ounce to a pint of water. This decoction 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. S2S 

is an excellent remedy for drying up the moisture of greasy 
heels, so troublesome in horses. In diarrhea in calves, 
given in four drachm doses, much good will result. 



Oils. 



There are two varieties of oils used in medicine — fixed 
and volatile. 

Fixed Oils. — ■ Castor, olive, linseed, croton and neats- 
foot oil. The uses of these oils will be found treated of 
under their respective heads. * 



Opium — (Papaver Somniferum^ 



The dried juice of the white poppy, and is one of the 
most remarkable substances in nature. There are several 
varieties of opium : Turkey, Egyptian, East Indian, Per- 
sian, and European opium. The medical preparations of 
opium are several : 

Morphia, or morphine, is the most important prepara- 
tion of opium, and sold in the drug stores in the form of 
white crystals, as also in that of a liquid — liquor morphia 
acqua and liquor morphia sulphas. Either of these prepara- 
tions of opium are much better medicines than the crude 
opium itself. Each fluid ounce contains one grain of the 
morphine, or the true principle of the opium, and one grain 
of morphine is equal to three grains of opium, or to forty- 
five drops of the tincture of opium, commonly called lauda- 
num. Opium is a narcotic, or reliever of pain, and is 
especially recommended in milk fever in cows. The dose 
of the acetate, sulphate, or muriate, in crystals, for the 
horse, is from twenty to forty grains. For the cow with 
milk fever, from forty to eighty grains. To a medical man. 



$26 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

such large doses may seem enormous, for in man the dose 
is from half to one grain. 

Horses will scarcely show the least effects from the 
administration of from two to four drachms of the powdered 
opium. On cattle, opium has even much less power than 
on horses. Cows can take one ounce, and sheep l]alf a 
drachm of powdered opium, without suffering. The doses 
of crude, or powdered opium for horses, are from one to 
two drachms, and for cattle, two to four drachms. In 
veterinary practice, opium is not now so much used, as 
aconite answers almost every purpose for which opium was 
given, and without in any way binding the bowels. But in 
case of milk fever, 'opium, or its alkaloid morphia, is well 
worthy of a trial, and if taken in time, will scarcely disap- 
point any one. 

Tincture of Opium. — Laudanum. — Every fifteen 
drops of the tincture contain one grain of opium. Lauda- 
num is the most costly of all the preparations of opium ; 
and not only that, the large quantity of alcohol, or spirits 
of wine it contains, is a decided objection to its use in 
many diseases. Crude opium rubbed down with a little 
water will be far better when it is to be used at once, or 
not kept for any time. Laudanum is used in lotions and 
liniments for the relief of pain, and it enters into eye washes, 
for the same purpose. 

Wine of opium contains spices. Not much used. 

Codia, narcotine, narceine, paramorphia, papaverine, 
meconine and meconic acid, are the various constituents of 
opium, but they are not used in medicine, either in domestic 
or veterinary. 

Battley's sedative drops, so well and familiarly known 
throughout the world, wherever the English language is 
spoken, though a secret, are known to contain opium 
water and a little spirit, and are one-third stronger than 
laudanum. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 527 



Pariera Brava. 



A ROOT which is to be sliced, and have one pint of water 
added to one ounce of the root. Boil, and strain when 
cold. This is a good tonic for horses. Mix with the feed, 
half a pint to the dose. 

Peach Leaves. 



One ounce infused in the same way as tea, with one 
pint of water, is an excellent application for the skin of 
animals havine the itch and skin diseases. 



& 



Peppermint — (Mentha Piperita). 



The essence of this garden plant is sometimes given to 
horses having colic, and given in doses of twenty drops. 
Dogs can have three drops for a dose, in the same disease. 

Pepper. 



A PLANT, and fruit, of the genus Piper. 

Black Pepper. — Piper Nigriuii. Occasionally given 
to horses affected with colic. 

Jamaica Pepper. — Pimento — Allspice. This is a valu- 
able medicine for horses and cattle affected with fever, loss 
of appetite and indigestion. From three to five drachms 
constitute a dose, given in combination with ammonia. 

Capsicum. — Cayenne Pepper. This is also used for the 
same purpose as the above, and given in from twenty to 
thirty grain doses. 

Pepsin. 



The active principle of the gastric juice of animals. Its 
cost prevents its use in calves having diarrhea, when the 



528 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

discharges are like milk. A good substitute for pepsin is 
rennet, which farmers should have about them, not only 
for cheese-making purposes, but for use in looseness, or 
scours in calves. It assists the stomach to digest the milk, 
which, in diarrhea, lays upon the stomach without being 
digested or changed. Hence the white diarrhea, so often 
seen in calves. 

Petroleum — Rock Oil. 



This substance was formerly highly recommended in 
chest diseases, but it has been succeeded by more certain 
and successful drugs for this purpose. However, it is still 
occasionally used as an external application for sores, and 
for the destruction of lice, etc., in the skin. It is apt to 
leave a blemish by causing the hair to fall off, and in some 
cases, in which I have seen it used too extensively, the 
hair did not come again. The better way to use coal-oil 
is to mix equal parts with some other oil having no acrid 
principle. 

Pitch— (Burgundy Pitch). 



The concrete juice of the abies excelsa. This is used 
in the composition of the plaster formerly used over the 
loins, in weakness, sprains, lumbago, etc., in the horse. 
Not now recommended. 

Phosphorus. 



An elementary substance resembling wax. There is, 
however, another resembling brick-dust, when in a mass. 
The preparations of phosphorus are numerous: Hypo- 
phosphate of ammonia, hypophosate of iron, and the phos- 
phate of lime, or bone, or earth, phosphate of soda, and 
of quinine. Phosphoric acid, diluted, is the one which 
siiould be used in veterinary practice. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 529 

Phosphoric Acid. — Is used in diseases of the bones of 
young colts. For young colts^ the dose will vary from ten 
to sixty drops, given diluted in cold water. 



Pomegranate Punica — (Granatum). 



The bark of the root of this tree is used for the 
destruction of tape-worm in all animals. Take of the bark 
one ounce; water, one pint; and boil down one-half. 
The dose for the dog will be a small wine-glassful. 

Poppies. 

(See Opium.) 

Potash — (Oxide of Potassium). 



Preparations of Potash are many : 

Caustic Potash. — Used as its name indicates, as a 
caustic, and is a favorite one of mine. Many persons ob- 
ject to it on account of its extreme fluidity, which I consider 
to be its most valuable property, as, if it did not readily 
assume a fluid form, its caustic properties would not be so 
good. Indeed, according to its fluidity, when applied to a 
part, so is its caustic property. For the quick reduction of 
proud flesh, it has no superior. 

Carbonate of Potash. — This is sometimes used as 
an antacid, but is not much used in horse and cattle 
diseases. 

Sulphuret of Potash. — Hepar Sulph. — Liver of ShL- 
phur. — This is a valuable remedy when applied to mange 
in all animals. Dissolve an ounce in a pint of water, first 
having rubbed the mangy part with fine sand, to expose the 
insect to the action of the sulphuret. 

34 



530 THE i'RACTlCAL HOME FARMER. 

Sulphate of Potash. — (See Glauber's Salts.) 

Iodide of Potash. — (See Iodine.) 

Nitrate of Potash. — (See Saltpetre.) The acetate 
and tartrate of potash are not used in veterinary practice. 

Chlorate of Potash. — Used for the same purposes as 
the nitrate, and in the same doses. The same maybe said 
of the permanganate. 

Frussic Acid. 



(See Acid.) 
Pumkin Seeds. 



An excellent remedy for destroying tape-worm. 

Purgatives. 

Medicines which empty the bowels. 

Pyroxylic Spirit— Wood Naphtha. 

Used to relieve chronic cough, and is given in half- 
ounce doses in gruel. 

Quinine. 



(See Cinchona.) 

Rennet. 
(See Pepsin.) 

Rhubarb — Rheum Palmatum. 



Rhubarb is a tonic and purgative in dogs, and other car- 
nivorous animals, but in horses and cattle it has scarcely any 



LIVE STOCK MEDIClNfiS. 53 1 

effect whatever, further than improving' the appetite. Better, 
and much more efficient and cheaper drugs are used in 
horse and cattle diseases. I know of a gentleman farmer, 
who uses the spiced rhubarb in young calves, in cases of 
looseness of the bowels, and in diarrhea. The dose of the 
spiced rhubarb is from one to two teaspoonfuls, repeating 
it two to three times a day. 

Bicinus Communis. 



(See Castor-oil.) 
Bochelle Salts. 



(A TARTRATE of Potash and Soda.) 

Saffron — Crocus Sativus. 



(See Colchicum.) 
Sagapenum. 



This is a gum, and is used for same purposes as 
asafcetida. 

Sal Ammonia — Chloride of Ammonia. 



(See Ammonia.) 
Salt.— Table Salt. 



Chloride of Sodium, a valuable condiment, when given 
with the food of animals. Salt is a laxative in horses, 
cattle and sheep, and is considered a preventive of sheep 
rot. 



532 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Sal Volatile. 



This is the compound spirit of ammonia. (See 
Ammonia.) 



Sassafras— Laurus Sassafras. 



This is a favorite remedy with farmers for their horses, 
and is given to them in the springof the year, to strengthen 
and improve the appetite. Sassafras may be given to 
horses, either in the form of a powder, or as a decoction, 
or tea, and mixed with the food. 



Sarracenia Purpura — Indian Cup or Pitcher Plant. 



This plant is found growing along the coast of Labrador, 
and the shores of the Gulf ul Mexico, on wet and marshy 
land. 

(/se. — This plant has recently proved to be one of the 
most useful in the whole list of medicines, and from all 
accounts, it is and will still be a blessinof to thousands 
who may become affected with small-pox. For small-pox 
in cattle and sheep^ it is not only a sure remedy, but also 
as good a preventive for the disease. The form and manner 
of using this medicine is in that of a tea. The time, 
however, will soon be when the chemist will provide us 
with an extract, or an alkaloid of this plant, which will 
enable us to give the essence of the plant without any inert 
matter. Take from one to two ounces of the dried root, 
and slice in thin pieces, place in an earthen pot, or other 
vessel, and add a quart of cold water, and allow the liquid 
to simmer gently over a slow fire, for two or three hours, 
so as to lose one-fourth of the quantity. Give to cattle, 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 533 

half a pint; and to sheep, two wine-glassfuls; repeating 
the dose in six hours, when a cure will generally be 
effected. 

Savin — ( Juniperus Rabina). 



The oil of juniper is used in veterinary practice, for the 
purpose of destroying worms in all animals. For horses 
and cattle, the dose is from three to four drachms, and for 
the dog, three to five drops. An ointment of the dried 
savin tops is used for the purpose of keeping up the action 
of blisters. Take one part of the fresh tops to sixteen parts 
of lard. 

Sedatives. 



Medicines which allay inordinate action of the heart. 
Senega, Polygala Senega— (Snakeroot). 



This, like other of our native herbs, is often used by 
country folks in the spring of the year. They give a decoc- 
tion, or tea of the snakeroot to their horses. It is an excel- 
lent remedy in coughs, bronchitis, cold, etc. Take one 
ounce, boil in a pint and a half of water, and strain through 
a sieve or strainer. For a horse, half pint, mixed in his 
feed, night and morning. 

Nitrate of Silver— (Lunar Caustic). 



Used as a caustic to unhealthy sores and ulcers ; and a 
solution, three to four grains to an ounce of rain or distilled 
water, is used to the eye in purulent ophthalmia. The 
nitrate of silver is too costly for general use. The sulphate 
of copper or blue stone will, for most purposes, answer as 
well, and is very cheap. 



534 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Sialagogues. 



Medicines which increase the secretion of saliva, such 
as aconite in large doses, and second crop clover, after it* 
has been exposed to cold nights or a little frost. 

Soap. 



A COMBINATION of fatty acid with an alkali. 
Soap Liniment — (Opodeldoc). 



A VERY useful application for sprains, bruises, and for 
stiff joints. 

Soda. 



A MINERAL alkali. 

Carbonate of Soda. — Useful as an antacid, in doses 
of from two to four drachms. 

Sulphate of Soda. — (See Glauber's Salts.) 

Sulphite of Soda. — This is made by passing a stream 
of sulphurous acid through a concentrated solution of car- 
bonate of soda. It is a valuable article in the treatment of 
diseases of horses and cattle. The sulphite of soda 
possesses the power of neutralizing the action of zumins, 
ferments, or leavens, when introduced into the circulation. 
Professor Polli, of Milan, has clearly demonstrated that 
this substance is capable of purifying the blood of noxious 
matters, and further, he has by his experiments upon dogs, 
proved that glanders can be cured by it ; for he says, that 
forty-five grains of the virus of glanders taken from the 
nares of the nose of a glandered horse, and injected into 
the circulation of a dog, after the disease had shown itself 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 535 

in the dog, was readily cured by the administration of the 
sulphite of soda. Upwards of seventy cases have thus 
been experimented upon by this distinguished professor — 
all going to show the value of soda, as a purifier of the 
blood, by its alterative effects. 

Sulphite of soda is a remedy in all cases of eruptions on 
the skin, in farcy, glanders and purpura in the horse, and 
in pleuro-pneumonia and rinderpest, etc., in cattle. Where- 
ever pus is thrown out as aproduct of disease, the sulphite 
of soda should be given. Dogs with distemper should 
have it to keep the circulation pure of pus. The blood of 
the dog becomes contaminated in this way, and hence, the 
good dog falls a victim to this scourge of fine bred ani- 
mals. 

Dose. — For horses and cattle, the dose is from half an 
ounce to one ounce, given twice in the day. For dogs, 
twenty grains given in camphor water. In farcy and 
glanders or other diseases, accompanied with debility, the 
soda should be combined with gentian and other tonics. 



Spanish Ply— (Lytta Cantharides). 



An insect ground into powder, and mixed with lard or 
oil, making what is familiarly known as a blister. The 
Spanish fly is, besides its blistering qualities, a very valua- 
ble internal medicine, a powerful tonic and alterative, and 
has been used with success, in the hands of Mr. Vines, of 
London, England, in the cure of farcy and glanders in the 
horse. In the same diseases, and where the lungs were 
free from tubercles, I have cured them with the Spanish 
fly, gentian, copper, and the sulphite of soda. Spanish fly 
is given to the horse in five grain doses once a day only, 
and mixed in cut or soft feed. Horses are more easily 
affected by Spanish fly than mares. Blisters of Spanish fly 
are made as follows : Powdered Spanish fly, one drachm ; 



536 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

hogs's lard, six drachms ; mix, and apply, by rubbing with 
the hand into the part to be blistered ; wash off the part 
the next day, oil or lard it for a week, and the swelling will 
leave when the irritation has gone out of the part. 

The tincture of Spanish fly was formerly used as the 
basis of the old sweating blister. An excellent application 
for the removal of a splint, or soft tumors about the legs 
of horses, is made as follows : Tincture of Spanish fly, one 
ounce; oil of croton, twenty drops ; well rubbed into the 
parts, it acts like magic ; that is, if the tumor can be 
removed at all by any means. 

Specifics. 

Medicines which cure disease, but the manner of action 
is unknown. 

Spermaceti. 



This is a solid crystalline fat, found in the large head 
of the sperm whale. There is a plan, however, by which 
it is said that spermaceti can be made out of the muscles 
of a dead cow or horse, by enclosing the flesh in a box 
perforated with holes, and sinking it in a running stream 
of water for a month or more, when the flesh will be con- 
verted into a mass of tough, solid matter. After which, it 
is treated with nitrous acid, poured over it to remove the 
offensive smell, and to separate the fat. Another plan is, 
to pour nitrous acid over the flesh without immersion in the 
brook, and which is said to convert the flesh in the short 
period of three days into a yellow colored spermaceti. 
Another plan is mentioned by Lord Bacon in his work 
Sylva Sylvarium, in which he says that the flesh of an 
animal may be changed into a fatty substance by cutting it 
into pieces, putting it into a glass vessel, covering with 
parchment, and allowing it to stand for six or seven hours 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. . 537 

in boiling water. Experiments of tliis kind might result in 
profit to those who would undertake them. The use of 
spermaceti in horse and cattle diseases is for the making of 
ointments and salves, especially in hot weather, when lard 
cannot be conveniently carried without the risk, not only 
of losing a portion of the ointment, but of soiling the 
clothing, or other articles coming in contact with it. 



Spirits of Nitrous Ether. 



Sweet spirits of nitre is well known to most persons 
as a good household remedy for fevers, etc. In the treat- 
ment of diseases of horses and cattle, sweet spirits of nitre 
is used as a stimulant and antispasmodic. It is also used 
in the case of a horse having a chill, and in colic. For 
colic, it was formerly given in combination with lauda- 
num. 

Dose. — For horses and cattle, the dose of sweet spirits 
of nitre will be from one to two ounces, given in cold water 
to prevent loss. 

Spirits of Wine — Alcohol. 



This is used lor making tinctures for medicinal purposes 
from the various plants in use. It is also a good stimu- 
lant ; much better than the bad whisky which is so 
often poured down the throats of horses affected with 
colic. 

Starch. 



A GOOD remedy in diarrhea in all animals, when com- 
bined with a few grains of opium and a little ground 
ginger, or a few drops of the tincture, commonly called the 
essence. 



538 . THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Sponge. 



A VALUABLE article for the cleansing of wounds and 
sores. 

Styptics. 



Substances having the quality of stopping bleedings 
from wounds. Examples: Perchloride of iron, cobwebs, 
the hot iron, and the bandage. 

Sudoriflcs. 



Medicines which produce sweating. 
Sugar of Milk. 



Much used by homcEopathists, both domestic and veter- 
inary, in the form of powder, but oftener in the form of 
globules or small pellets. Not recommended for the treat- 
ment of any disease. Molasses is the best form in which 
to give sugar to animals, and it is useful in cases of sick 
cows, mixed in a drench. 



Sugar of Lead. 



(See Acetate of Lead.) 
Sulphur — Brimstone. 



SuLHHUR is kept in the drug store in three forms, 
flowers of sulphur, milk of sulphur, and sulphur vivum. 
Sulphur is chiefly used for skin diseases, in the form of an 
ointment. It is believed by many persons to be a great 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 539 

preventive of diseases and distempers in all animals, and 
is one of the ingredients of an incongruous mass extolled 
and recommended by the Hon. Isaac Newton, Commis- 
sioner of Agriculture, as a preventive of cattle diseases. 
Whatever may be the medicinal virtue possessed by sulphur, 
it certainly has no prophylactic effects, mixed with tar, etc. 
The simple ointment of sulphur is made as follows : one 
part of the flowers, or sulphur vivum, mixed with four parts 
of lard. In winter, when lard is hard, oil should be used 
instead, thus forming a liniment of sulphur more easy of 
application. Sulphur, as a laxative for horses and cattle, 
should be given in doses from one to three ounces, and 
administered in gruel, in the form of a drench. For dogs 
the dose is one to two drachms. It is not recommended as 
an internal medicine. 

Sulphuric Acid. 



(See Acids.) 
Sulphurous Acid Gas. 



This is one of the most powerful disinfectants we have. 
The great objection to its general use for this purpose is 
its poisonous character when breathed or inhaled to any 
extent. But from recent experiments instituted by Dr. 
James Dewor, of Kirkcaldy, Scotland, for testing the effi- 
cacy of sulphurous acid gas as a disinfectant, results are 
shown which lead to the conviction that diseases such as 
cholera in man, and rinderpest and pleuro-pneumonia in 
cattle, may not only be prevented, but much modified by 
this, hitherto considered, poisonous gas. The method of 
generating sulphurous acid gas is very simple and inexpens- 
ive. It is only necessary to have a small chaffern of red 
hot cinders from a coal fire, a small crucible on the hot cin- 



540 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ders, and a piece of sulphur-stick about as large as a man's 
thumb placed into it. This will fumigate a large cattle 
shed or stable in twenty minutes. Contrary to expectation, 
the animals seem to enjoy it, and it acts at the same time 
as a tonic on man and beast. The shed or other house 
must be well ventilated, by having the windows a little open 
before, during, and after the fumigation. Sanitary rules 
must be enforced in regard to cleanliness, removal of dung- 
heaps, etc. During the prevalence of such epizootics as 
are above named, the fumigation may be made according to 
the foregoing directions, four or five times in the day. It 
is further said that the treatment has not only cured some 
cases of the above named diseases, but that mange, ring- 
worm and lice have also vanished before it, and that greasy 
heels in horses have also been cured by it, while severe 
cases of tubercles of the lungs, glanders, and farcy have 
also been relieved by the inhalation of this gas. This is 
well worthy a fair trial, and if it but accomplish half what 
is claimed for it, a great and cheap fumigation and disin- 
fectant is within the reach of any one. But, bear in mind, 
that it is a poisonous gas, and to prevent a deleterious 
effect, have free ventilation through the whole place. 



Tannin. 



This is the acid of barks, and is valuable, mixed with 
water, in running ulcers and sores, and in diarrhea, in all 
animals. The powder sprinkled upon bleeding sores will 
in many cases stop them. One drachm to a pint of cold 
water makes a good eye-wash, and in many cases dries up 
the scum, and removes it altogether. It is certainly a cheap 
and useful remedy, and can do no harm to the eye. 

Doses. — For horses and cattle, in diarrhea, the dose of 
tannic acid is from half to one drachm, given in gruel as a 
drench. For calves with the same disease, give from ten 



Live stock medicines. 541 

to twenty grains as a dose, mixed with wheat-flour gruel. 
Snuffed up the nostrils by man, in bleeding from tiie nose, 
it will in most cases arrest it at once. 

Tannin of Krameria. — This is used for the same pur- 
pose as the preceding, but it is a better stypic, or arrester 
of bleedine from the skin or other sores. 



& 



Sulphate of Zinc— White Vitriol. 



This is a valuable article for healing wounds and sores. 
It is not administered internally to any animal, except as an 
emetic to dogs. As an external wash for sores, one part 
of zinc to twenty of rain-water will answer for most pur- 
poses. For. eye-wash, three to four grains to the ounce of 
water. This is one of the best applications which can be 
applied to the eye in cases of purulent ophthalmia. 

Tannate of Glycerine. 



An excellent application for the eyes, in purulent 
ophthalmia, and for moist sores, wherever situated upon 
the body. 

Tar. 



Pix Liquida. — Tar is not now used internally to the 
extent it formerly was. To cattle it is still given in a dis- 
ease of the throat called dyers. For this purpose egg-shells 
are filled with good Barbadoes tar, and suspended on the 
end of a split stick, and gently pushed down the throat of 
the ox. As an external application, tar is still used on 
sores about cattle, to keep the flies off"; and it is used to 
make stopping for horses' feet, singly, and mixed with clay. 
It is kept in every horse-shoeing shop for putting on the 
soles, usually with cotton, and having leather nailed on 
with the shoe. 



542 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Oil of Tar. — This is an excellent application when 
mixed with equal parts of sweet, or some fish oil, to pro- 
mote the growth of horn on the foot of the horse. To 
give it a dark color to suit the foot, lamp-black may 
be stirred in, in sufficient quantity to make a black hoof 
ointment, which will be found an excellent formula for this 
purpose. 

Tartar Emetic. 



(See Antimony.) 

Tobacco— Nicotiana Tobacum. 

Tobacco is used as a medicine, principally in skin dis- 
eases, and for the destruction of lice and other insects, in 
the wool of sheep. Tobacco smoke is a favorite remedy 
with some veterinarians, for the removal and killing of 
worms, and in constipation, and colic. For these purposes, 
better and safer agents are in every-day use. Tobacco in 
all, or any of its forms, is dangerous, being followed by 
great sickness, nausea and prostration, from which many 
animals are ultimately destroyed. . 

Tragacanth. 
(See Gum.) 

Turpentine — Terebinthse. 



The various varieties of turpentine in market. 

Common Turpentine. — The produce of the pinus 
palustris, of North Carolina, and other States, and also of 
Norway, and the north of Europe. The pinus sylvestris, 
or Scotch fir, yields considerable turpentine. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 543 

Venice Turpentine. — This is procured from the 
Larix Europea. 

Canada Balsam. — Procured from the Abies Bahamce, 
and is considered to be the purest of all the turpentines; 
hence it is called sometimes, the balsam of Gilead. 

Frankincense. — A product of Norway, and the north 
of Europe. This variety enters into the composition of 
what is known as Burgundy pitch, and is used in veterinary 
practice for making adhesive plasters for the loins of horses 
having been sprained, or having lumbago. 

Oil of Turpentine. — This is commonly called the 
spirits of turpentine, and is used very largely in horse and 
cattle diseases, both for internal administration and exter- 
nal application. It is a powerful stimulant, diuretic, and 
antispasmodic, and is, therefore, used in colic in the horse, 
in puerperal apoplexy in cows, and in general debility in 
all animals. As an external embrocation, it is very effi- 
cient when combined with an equal portion of sweet oil, 
but very dangerous when applied to the skin of the horse 
alone. The horse will become restless, and, in some cases, 
utterly unmanageable. 

The doses of oil of turpentine for horses and cows are 
from one to two ounces, always mixed with its own bulk of 
oil, especially for horses. For dogs affected with tape- 
worm, half to one drachm is the dose, mixed with the 
yolk of an ^^%. 

Rosin, or Resin. — The residue left from the distilla- 
tion of turpentine, which is chiefly used by horsemen to 
cause the horse to urinate more freely. Much mischief is 
often done to horses by the administration of rosin. In- 
deed, most diseases of the kidney and of the loins can be 
traced to over-dosing with this substance. The oftener 
rosin is given to the horse, the more he appears in the eyes 
of the driver to stand in need of his favorite dose. The 
kidneys become overworked, the desire to urinate is more 



544 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

frequent, less urine is voided each time, and the poor man 
does not see the mischief he has already done, but hastens 
to give the horse more to remedy the urinary defect he has 
thus been instrumental in producing. It will be well to 
remember that powerful diuretics, like powerful purgatives, 
tend only to weaken and debilitate. If there be a urinary 
defect, find out the cause, and, if possible, have it removed, 
and the effect will cease, '"'' sublata causa, tollitur effcctus,^'' 
but do not attempt to do so by force, and against all science 
and common sense. Other preparations of turpentine have 
already been noticed. (See Tar.) 



Urse Ursi. 



The leaves of the whortleberry. They were once in 
repute in diseases of the horse, but are now fallen, and 
others have taken their place. They were used chiefly in 
diseases of the bladder and kidney. 



Valerian — Valeriana Officinalis. 



However useful valerian may be in nervous irritation 
in man, it is not so useful in veterinary patients. Camphor, 
and the gum resins, or asafoetida, answer our purpose bet- 
ter than valerian. 

Valerianate of Soda. 

This has been found useful in chorea, or twitching of 
the muscles in the dog, in doses of from one to two grains. 

Valerianate of Iron. — A good tonic for the dog. 

Valerianate of Quinine. — An excellent remedy for 
agues in man. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 545 



Veratrum— White Hellebore. 

If we had not so useful a sedative medicine as we have 
in aconite, I would certainly recommend the tincture of 
white hellebore root in all diseases for which aconite is 
recommended. On account of its being more dangerous 
than aconite, in case of overdose, I will not say much more 
about it, as wherever white hellebore is found in the coun- 
try stores, aconite will be there also. Hence, there can be 
no good reason for recommending it when aconite can be 
procured. 

Veratria. — The alkaloid of white hellebore, and is one 
of the most destructive of the deadly poisons. Nothing 
could be more so than this preparation of hellebore ; and 
what is more, at present no test is known whereby to detect 
its presence within the stomach or system. 



Wax. 



This substance is used for giving hardness and con- 
sistency to ointments, and is a favorite with me in the form 
of shoemaker's wax, for the purpose of filling up cracks 
and holes in the feet of horses, to keep out sand and dirt. 
To be applied as follows : Make the wax in the form of 
a stick, so that it can be held by one end, while you hold a 
hot iron to the other, and hold it over the hole or crack, so 
that the warm wax will drop into it. When the part is 
full, wet the finger, and by this means the wax can be 
smoothed, so that ordinary observers can scarcely observe 
a deficiency in the foot. The hole or crack must be 
perfectly dry, and free from moisture, or else the wax 
will not stick very long. When dry, and the wax is put 
properly in, it will last for a month, or till the next shoeing 

time. 

35 



546 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Willow Bark. 

A MUCH neglected, valuable and cheap medicine. This 
bark has within it a crystalline substance called salicine, 
which is an excellent substitute for the expensive quinine. 
Farmers and others will do well to gather it in sufficient 
quantity, and have it dried ; and in the spring of the year, 
or when any of the horses are weak, or out of sores, take of 
the willow bark one pound, and boil in four quarts of 
water, till two quarts are left ; then strain for use, and give 
a tumblerful, mixed in cut feed, once or twice in the day. 
This will be found much better than the black snakeroot 
already spoken of under its proper head. 

V 

Yeast. 



Brewer's yeast is one of the best applications for an 
unhealthy sore or ulcer, as it immediately changes its look 
and smell. A mixture of yeast and charcoal is a domestic 
remedy not to be overlooked in the treatment of sores, 
especially in the summer time. The yeast and the char- 
coal are to be mixed in the form of a poultice, and used 
as such, occasionally changing it so that full benefit may 
be given to the sore by its use. After tne sore is cleansed 
and corrected, it may be then healed as a simple, healthy 
sore, by other remedies amply described through the 
book. 

Zinc. 



There are several preparations of zinc, which are used 
in the treatment of horse and cattle diseases, but chiefly in 
the form of external applications. 

Oxide of Zinc. — This is a white powder, like wheat- 
flour, and is useful when applied as a pow.der in greasy 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 547 

heels and other sores which discharge a sanious fluid from 
them. Oxide of zinc is often used in the form of an oint- 
ment mixed with lard. An excellent ointment is also made 
by soap shaved down, moistened with a little water, and 
having oxide of zinc added to it. This is a good form for 
greasy heels and scratches on horses that have to work 
every day. It keeps down irritation and fever, prevents 
swelling of the legs, and is easily washed off on the horse 
coming into the stable for the night. 

Carbonate of Zinc. — This is used under the old name 
o{ calamine, either in the form of a powder or an ointment. 
The ointment is made by adding four parts of lard to one 
of calamine. It is good for healing sores. 

Sulphate of Zinc. — This preparation of zinc has 
already been described under the head of sulphate of zinc 
which see). 

Chloride of Zinc. — Btitter of Zittc. This, as well as 
tne other forms of zinc, is not used as an internal medicine, 
except the sulphate, which is occasionally given to the dog 
as an emetic. 

Chloride of zinc is a powerful disinfectant and deodor- 
izer, and is used in the healing of wounds and sores. The 
solution is the usual form of using it. Two grains of the 
chloride of zinc to an ounce of rain-water makes a good 
eye-wash. F"or ordinary sores, four to five grains of the 
zinc to one ounce of rain-water, is a good application. One 
characteristic of the preparations of zinc when applied to 
sores is, no proud flesh can or will arise during their use. 
The chloride of zinc is used by some veterinarians as a 
caustic, but for this purpose better caustics, and cheaper 
ones, will be found elsewhere described. 

Acetate of Zinc. — This is made by dissolving oxide 
or carbonate of zinc in acetic acid. The chief use of the 
acetate of zinc is for the healing of wounds. In European 
stables it is employed for the purpose of wetting bandages 



548 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

applied to old hunters and other horses, whose legs cannot 
be otherwise kept fine and free from swelling. The band- 
ages usually employed in such cases are made of wash- 
leather, which is so extensively used for drying carriages 
after being washed, and is called chamois leather. 

Zingiberis. 



(See Ginger.) 
Zyloidine. 



This is a white substance, which is insoluble, and is 
obtained from starch, concentrated nitric acid, and cold 
water. 



FREsaRiE'SFre^s a^s Fremrf^fis^s. 



Cerates. 



Used for dressing sores and ulcers. 

Simple Cerate. — Take yellow or white wax, three 
ounces ; olive oil, two ounces ; melt them on a slow 
fire. 

Turner's Cerate. — Take of simple cerate, five ounces; 
prepared calamine, one ounce ; mix, and stir till cold. 

Cerate of Zinc. — Take simple cerate, six ounces ; 
melt, and add oxide of zinc, one ounce, and stir till cold. 

Resin Cerate. — Yellow Basilicon. — Take yellow resin 
and yellow wax, of each half a pound, then add eight 
ounces of olive oil or lard, melt together over a slow fire. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 549 

and strain through a flannel cloth while hot. This is 
an old, but excellent application for sores, scalds burns, 
etc. 

Clysters. 



For colic of all kinds, take warm water of about blood 
heat, one stable-bucket full ; four ounces of common table 
salt, soap sufficient to make a good lather or froth ; of this, 
three to four quarts may be injected in the rectum every 
half hour till the animal is well. For the expulsion of the 
fundamental bots, injections of flaxseed oil are an excellent 
and safe method. Tobacco smoke injections are sometimes 
used for their removal., as well as in cases of constipation. 
To give injections of tobacco smoke, an instrument 
having both force and suction is necessary. Tobacco 
smoke is not recommended for either of these affections 
by the author. 

Drenches. 



Used in cases of colic: Take sulphuric ether, half an 
ounce; laudanum, two ounces; flaxseed oil, one pint; mix. 
Or, take spirits of turpentine, one ounce ; tincture of 
aconite root, twenty-five drops ; aloes, one ounce in solu- 
tion ; mix. Or, take warm ale, two pints ; ground ginger, 
half an ounce ; tincture of aconite root, twenty drops ; 
mix. Used in flatulent colic, accompanied with swelling of 
the belly: Take laudanum, two ounces ; aloes in solution, 
one ounce ; chloride of lime, half an ounce ; mix. Or, take 
tincture of aconite root, twenty drops ; aloes in solution, 
one ounce ; sulphite of soda, one ounce ; mix. Or, take 
spirits of hartshorn, three drachms ; aloes in solution, one 
ounce ; water, one pint ; mix. 



550 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Eye Lotions and Washes. 



Astringent Eye Lotion. — Take sulphate of zinc, five 
grains; rain-water, one ounce ; mix. 

Lotion for Purulent Discharges from the Eye. — 
Take sulphate of copper, three grains ; laudanum, ten 
drops ; rain-water, one ounce ; mix. 

For the Same. — Nitrate of silver, four grains ; rain- 
water, one ounce ; mix, and apply with a camel's hair pen- 
cil once in the day. 

Soothing Eye-wash. — Take extract of belladonna, 
half a drachm ; rain-water or distilled water, six ounces ; 
dissolve and strain. This is to be used warm, as a fomen- 
tation to the eye. 

Mild Astringent Eye-water. — Alum, four grains; 
rain-water, one ounce ; mix. 

Sedative Eye-wash. — Take sulphate of atrophine, 
three grains ; rain or distilled water, one ounce ; mix, and 
strain. The reader of this book will remember that balla- 
donna, or atrophine, when applied to the eye, will cause 
the pupil of the eye to dilate. 

Eye Salves. 



Nitrate of Silver Ointment. — Take nitrate of silver, 
twelve grains ; dissolve in as many drops of water ; simple 
cerate, one ounce ; mix. 

Precipitate Ointment. — Take red precipitate of mer- 
cury, three grains ; pure lard, two drachms ; mix, and use 
when the eyelids are red and oozing. 

Freezing Mixtures. 



Take sal ammoniac, five parts ; nitre, five parts ; cold 
water, sixteen parts ; mix. Or, take sal ammoniac, and 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 551 

nitre, of each five parts ; Glauber's salts, eight parts ; cold 
water, sixteen parts ; mix. The article to be cooled should 
be placed in a tin vessel, which should be put in the mix- 
ture just as a butter kettle would be placed in ice water. 
By throwing a handful of sal ammoniac, or coarse salt or 
nitre, upon ice or snow, a low degree of cold will be pro- 
duced, sufficient for all purposes. Freezing mixtures are 
of much benefit applied to sprains, when ice cannot be had. 

Liniments or Embrocations. 



These are for external applications, and are used in the 
cure of sprains, bruises, chronic swellings, etc. 

Liniment of Ammonia. — Take solution of ammonia, 
two ounces ; sweet oil, six ounces ; mix. 

Liniment of Camphor. — Take camphor, one ounce ; 
olive or sweet oil, three ounces; mix. 

Liniment of Aconite. — Take tincture of aconite root, 
two ounces; olive or sweet oil, four ounces ; creosote, one 
ounce ; mix. This is one of the most valuable embroca- 
tions which can be applied to a painful bruise, or sprain 
of whatever kind. It allays and removes inflammation, 
irritation and pain. 

Liniment of Lead. — Take soap (castile), five ounces ; 
camphor, one drachm ; Goulard's extract of lead, half an 
ounce ; boiling water, one pint. Cut the soap into thin 
pieces, and the camphor in fine powder, and stir them into 
the Goulard's extract, then pour in the boiling water. 

Soap Liniment. — Opodeldoc. — Take castile, or even 
white soap, three ounces ; oil of rosemary, two drachms ; 
oil of thyme, one drachm ; camphor, one ounce; spirits of 
wine, one pint. The camphor is to be in fine powder, and 
the soap in fine shavings. The camphor, oils and soap are 
to be dissolved in the spirits of wine. Place the vessels 
holding these articles by the fire till the soap is dissolved. 



552 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

It should be kept in wide-mouthed bottles, of from four to 
six onnces' capacity. 

Observe. — The oils of rosemary and thyme, entering into 
the mixture, are not so much for their medical virtues as 
for the fine smell. In horse and cattle practice, these oils 
can be dispensed with ; or, add the same quantity of olive 
oil. 

Soap Liniment. — Common. — This may be used instead 
of the opodeldoc. Take soap in shavings, four ounces ; 
camphor, in powder, one ounce ; spirits of wine, one pint; 
laudanum, half an ounce; and dissolve. This is a cheap 
and useful liniment for sprains and bruises. 

Turpentine Liniment. — Take spirits, or oil of turpen- 
tine, two ounces; olive oil, two ounces ; mix. 

Lime Liniment. — Take equal parts of lime-water and 
linseed oil, and shake them well together till a white, thick, 
creamy, or saponaceous compound is made. This is used 
in cases of burns and scalds, whether in man or beast. 
Spread some of the liniment on a soft cotton cloth, lay it 
on the burned part, and when dry renew again. 

Carbolic Acid Liniment. — Carbolic acid, one drachm; 
olive oil, eight ounces ; mix. Or, water alone may be 
used for ordinary sores instead of the oil ; but for scratches, 
the same quantity of glycerine will answer a better 
purpose. 

Creosote Liniment. — Take creosote, one ounce ; oil of 
turpentine, one ounce; olive oil, two ounces ; mix. This 
is a favorite liniment for sprains, bruises, and sores, and 
gives relief from pain when rubbed upon the sprained 
hock-joint and stiff joints generally. 

Ointments. 



{ 



Blistering Ointment.^ Take ot Spanish fly, in pow- 
der, one drachm ; hog's lard, six drachms ; mix. This is 
the ordinary blistering ointment. The old formula is, one 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 553 

of Spanish fly to four of lard. The weaker ointment 
answers the better purpose. 

Red Iodide Ointment. — Take of bin-iodide of mer- 
cury, one drachm; hog's lard, one ounce; mix. This is 
the most useful ointment the veterinary surgeon can 
employ, or possess, for the cure of spHnts, ring-bones, 
spavins, indurated or hardened tumors, and the reduction 
of enlargements of the glands of the neck. Iodide ointment 
should only be used once in five days, or till the effects of 
the previous application have subsided a good deal. This 
precaution is necessary to prevent a blemish being made 
by the hair falling off and not growing again, which should 
always be avoided. 

Green Ointment. — Take of simple serate or ointment, 
one ounce; add one drachm of verdigris (diacetate of cop- 
per), and mix. This ointment will heal sores when other 
applications have failed. 

Sulphur Ointment. — Take of iodide of sulphur, one 
drachm ; hog's lard, one ounce ; mix. Used in mange and 
skin diseases. 

Zinc Ointment. — Take carbonate of zinc, one drachm; 
hog's lard, one ounce; mix. A good healing ointment. 

Liver of Sulphur Ointment. — Take of liver of sul- 
phur, one drachm ; hog's lard, one ounce ; mix. Used in 
mange and other skin diseases, A more cleanly and easily 
managed form, performing all its actions, is one part of the 
liver of sulphur to eight parts of water. 

French Hoof Ointment. — Take of olive oil, wax, lard, 
honey and white turpentine, equal parts. Dissolve, or digest 
over a slow fire. For black hoofs, a little ivory-black, 
stirred in while hot, will give it sufficient color. For blue 
feet, add sufficient Prussian blue or indigo along with the 
ivory-black till a blue tint is given to the ointment. 

Common Hoof Ointment. — The hoof ointment sold 
for such is composed of Venice turpentine wax, and suet 
in quantities sufficient to give consistence or thickness to 



554 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the mass. Oil of tar and oil of olives, or some of the 
fish oils, equal parts, and sufficient lamp or ivory-black 
stirred in to give thickness to the whole, is probably 
the best ointment which can be used for the hoof of the 
horse. 



Plasters. 



Plasters are not often called for in horse and cattle 
diseases, but some cases arise which require a plaster over 
the back or loins, such as chronic sprains, lumbago, etc. 
Take Burgundy pitch, four parts ; wax, one part ; cam- 
phor, half drachm; Spanish fly, half a drachm; melt over 
a slow fire, spread on soft leather, and lay over the loins 
while warm. This will be sufficient for all purposes where 
a plaster is indicated. Plasters should be worn six weeks, 
so that the horse will reap some benefit from them. 



Poultices. 

Carrot Poultice. — Take of washed carrots, boil till 
soft, strain off the water, and bruise the carrots into a fine 
pulp or mass ; spread upon strong cloth. Used for sores 
of an unhealthy kind. 

Linseed Meal Poultice. — Take of boiling water one 
quart, stir in sufficient linseed meal with a wooden stick or 
spoon, and beat it well so as to have no lumps. To be 
spread on strong cloth or canvas, and applied. 

Yeast and Charcoal Poultice. — Take yeast, one 
pint, and powdered charcoal sufficient to give consistence 
to the whole when well stirred in. This is a valuable 
poultice, and is not as well known as it ought to be. 
Used in sores discharging a stinking matter, which it soon 
arrests. 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 555 



Spirits. 



Proof Spirits. — The rectified spirits of wine, three 
parts by measure ; water, two parts by measure ; mix. 
This is the proper strength for making tinctures. Keep 
the rectified spirits by itself till wanted, the water can be 
added when needed. 

Spirits of Camphor. — -Take of camphor, two and a 
half ounces ; rectified spirits, one pint ; dissolve. Used 
for sprains, bruises and sores. 

Tinctures. 



Tincture of Arnica. — Take arnica flowers, four 
ounces ; alcohol, one quart ; macerate, or steep for one 
week, and strain. 

Tincture OF Aconite Root.— Take of the dried and 
bruised root, four ounces ; alcohol, half a pint ; macerate 
for two weeks, and strain. This medicine no farmer can 
very well do without. Those who do without it do not 
know its actual value. Twenty drops of the tincture of 
aconite root, under certain circumstances, is as valuable as 
the animal which may stand in need of its great curative 
virtues. Measured by its power in curing disease, its 
weight in gold is not its value. 

Compound Tincture of Benzoin. — -Commonly called 
Friar s Balsam. Take of gum benzoin, one and a half 
ounces ; storax, one ounce ; balsam of tolu, half an ounce; 
aloes, in powder, two drachms ; alcohol, one pint ; macer- 
ate for one week, and strain or filter. Used for healing 
sores. 

Tincture of Aloes and Myrrh. — Take aloes, in 
powder, one ounce ; saffron, half an ounce ; tincture of 
myrrh, half a pint; macerate for two weeks, and strain. 
Used for healing sores and wounds. 



556 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Tincture of Iodine. — Take of iodine, half an ounce ; 
iodide of potassium, one ounce ; alcohol, one pint ; macer- 
ate for a day or so, and it is fit for use ; Used as an injec- 
tion for abscesses and empty cavities. It is also used by 
some for enlargements, in the same way as it is used for 
erysipelas in man, by painting the affected part. 



Waters. 



Lime-water. — Take a lump of lime or limestone of 
about a pound weight, lay it on a soup plate and wet it 
with water, which will soon convert the hard stone into a 
fine powder. Then put it into a stone jar holding a gallon 
or upwards, fill in one gallon of water, and cork it closely. 
It is now ready for use when wanted. The same lime may 
be used repeatedly, by pouring fresh water, as the other is 
taken out. This water is what the lime liniment is partly 
composed of 

Tar-water. — {^Bishop Berkeley's Recipe.^ Pour a 
gallon of cold water on a quart of liquid tar; stir, mix and 
work them together thoroughly with a wooden ladle or flat 
stick for five or six minutes. Then let the vessel stand, 
closely covered for three days and nights. Carefully skim 
the surface, without moving the vessel, pour off the clear 
solution, and keep it in bottles well corked for use. This 
is a useful medicine for man and horse in chest diseases, 
and it would be well worthy of a trial in chronic cough in 
the horse. 

Medicines to be Kept on Hand. 



The following medicines should be kept in every farm- 
house, where there are horses and cows. If the farmer 
should not think it of sufficient importance, he should at 
least ascertain what is kept in the village or country store, 



LIVE STOCK MEDICINES. 557 

SO that he may know exactly where to get what he may at 
any moment stand in need of, for his horse or cow, in case 
of accident or sickness. Medicines should be kept in 
bottles ; some in wide, and others in narrow-mouthed ones. 
A plain label should be affixed to every bottle, and on those 
known to be poisonous, a dark-colored label should be 
used and marked Poison. This will often prevent mistakes 
and accident. 

Tincture of Aconite Root. — One ounce. 

Red Iodide of Mercury. — One drachm. 

Tincture of Nux Vomica. — One ounce. 

Spirits of Turpentine. — Two ounces. 

Epsom Salts. — Two pounds. 

Simple Cerate, or Ointment. — Two ounces. 

Linseed Oil. — One quart. 

Aloes. — One ounce. 

Carbonate of Ammonia. — One pound. 

Gentian Root. — Half a pound. 

Sulphur. — Half a pound. 

Olive Oil. — Half a pint. 

Chalk. — Two pounds. 

Powdered Opium. — One ounce. 

Ginger. — One pound. 

Fenugreek. — -One pound. 

Sulphate of Iron. — Half a pound. 

Caustic Potash. — Six sticks. 

Glycerine. — Half a pound. 

Lime-water. 

Tannin. — One ounce. 

Catechu. — One ounce. 

Sulphuric Ether. — Two ounces. 

Blue Stone. — Two ounces. 

Oxide of Zinc. — Four ounces. 

Sulphuric Acid. — One pound. 

Spirits of Salt. — One pound. 

Sulphite of Soda. — One pound. 



§58 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Spanish Fly. — Half an ounce. 

Carbolic Acid (in crystals). — • One ounce. 

Creosote. — Half an ounce. 

Alcohol. — One pint. 

Cotton, or Tow. — One pound. 

Laudanum. — Two ounces. 

Nitrate of Silver. — Two sticks. 

Chloride of Lime. — A few pounds. 

Powdered Charcoal. — A few pounds. 

Black Oxide of Manganese. — Three ounces. 

Roll Sulphur. — Half a pound. 

Liver of Sulphur. — -Three ounces. 



Table of Doses According to Age. 

If the dose is for a full-grown animal, of whatever 
kind, let it be one ounce. 

A colt of one year will require one-third of an ounce. 

A two year old will require one-half of an ounce. 

A three year old will require three - fourths of an 
ounce. 

The same proportion may be observed in cattle, from 
one year old and upwards. But a calf, a week or two old, 
will require another division of dose, still following the 
same rule. The dose for a one year old is one-third of the 
dose of an adult, or full-grown ox. Then the dose for a 
calf of four weeks will be one-twelfth of that given to a 
one year old, and a two months' old calf or colt, will 
require one-sixth of that of a one year old animal. For a 
one week old animal, the dose will be one-fourth of that 
of the animal aged four weeks. The rule and the dose are 
merely approximated, but it is the best and only plan we 
can offer, as a rule or guide for 2i posological fdhXe.. Some 
persons have advocated a decrease in the dose for old ani- 
mals. This I cannot favor, as but few horses live to be so 



Live stock medicines. 559 

old that a full dose of medicine would be an injury to them. 
The great trouble with aged horses, is not from a failure 
of the constitution and the general system, but from defect 
in the teeth, whereby, in winter, they are nearly starved, 
because of inability to masticate what they eat. If their 
food could be prepared, as is done for old men, their lives 
and usefulness would be prolonged; then it would be time 
enough to think of diminishing the dose for old horses. 

Articles Necessary for Measuring, WeigMng, Etc. 

One pair of scales and weights capable of weighing 
from one grain to one ounce. 

Two glass measures, one measuring from five drops to 
sixty — the other from one drachm to six ounces. 

One wedgewood mortar, with pestle to match. 

One tile for making ointment upon. 

Two spatulas, or round-edged knives, for mixing and 
dividing powders, and mixing ointments. 

A few small bottles with corks, to hold from one to 
eight ounces. 

A few labels for pasting on the bottles, with directions 
for the use of the medicine. 

A few labels with the word " poison. " 

A few sponges. 

One ox's horn cut sloping at the wide end for drench- 
ing horses or cattle, which is better than a bottle. A bottle 
made of block tin, in the shape of a champagne bottle, is 
a good article for drenching with. 

Equivalents. 



A TABLESPOONFUL is equal to half an ounce by measure. 
A desert-spoonful is equal to two fluid drachms. 
A teaspoonful is equal to one fluid drachm. 



56o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

A wineglassful is equal to one and a half fluid ounces. 

The surest way, however, to get the true quantity is to 
have the article measured by properly graduated weights 
and measures. It will not, however, be nedessary to weigh 
each powder separately. Thus, half a pound of ginger 
can be equally divided into ten or twelve equal parts with 
a knife, without the trouble of weighing each powder 
separately. 



S\v)inG. 



American Swine. 

In the United States, swine have been an object of 
attention since its earliest settlement, and whenever a 
profitable market has been found for pork abroad, it has 
been exported to the full extent of the demand. Swine 
are not, however, indigenous to this country, but were 
doubtless originally brought hither by the early English 
setders ; and the breed thus introduced may still be dis- 
tinguished by the traces they retain of their parent stock. 
France, also, as well as Spain, and, during the existence of 
the slave-trade, Africa, have also combined to furnish 
varieties of this animal, so much esteemed throughout the 
whole country, as furnishing a valuable article of food. 
For nearly twenty years following the commencement of 
the general European wars, soon after the organization 
of our national government, pork was a comparatively 
large .article of commerce ; but exports for a time diminished 
and it was not until within a more recent period that this 
staple has been brought up to its former standard as an 
article of exportation to that country. The recent use 



Live stock — swine. 561 

which has been made of its carcass in converting it into 
lard oil, has tended to still further increase its consump- 
tion. 

They are reared in every part of the Union, and, when 
properly managed, always at a fair profit. At the extreme 
North, in the neighborhood of large markets, and on such 
of the Southern plantations as are particularly suited to 
sugar or rice, they should not be raised beyond the number 
required for the consumption of the coarse or refuse food 
produced. Swine are advantageously kept in connection 
with a dairy or orchard ; since, with little additional food 




THE WILD BOAU AT BAV. 



besides what is thus afforded, they can be put in good 
condition for the butcher. 

On the rich bottoms and other lands of the West, how- 
ever, where Indian corn is raised in profusion and at small 
expense, they can be reared in the greatest numbers and 
yield the largest profit. TheSioto, Miami, Wabash, Illinois, 
and other valleys, and extensive tracts in Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee, Missouri, and some adjoining States, have for many 
years taken the lead in the production of swine ; and it is 
probable that the climate and ,soil, which are peculiarly 
suited to their rapid growth, as well as that of their appro- 
priate food, will enable them to hold their position as the 
leading pork-producers of the North American Continent. 

The breeds cultivated in this country are numerous; 



562 - THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMEk. 

aiird, like our native cattle, they embrace many of the best, 
and a few of the worst, to be found among- the species. 
Great attention has been paid, for many years, to their 
improvement in the Eastern States ; and nowhere are 
there better specimens than in many of their yards. This 
spirit has rapidly extended West and South ; and among 
most of the intelligent farmers, who make them a leading 
object of attention, on their rich corn-grounds, swine have 
attained a high degree of excellence. This does not consist 
in the introduction and perpetuity of any distinct races, so 
much as in the breeding up to a desirable size and aptitude 
for fattening, from such meritorious individuals of any breed, 
or their crosses, as come within their reach. 



The Byefield. 



This breed was formerly in hign repute in the Eastern 
States, and did much good among the species generally. 
They are white, with fine curly hair, well made and com- 
pact, moderate in size and length, with broad backs, and at 
fifteen months attaining some three hundred to three 
hundred and fifty pounds net. 

The Bedford. 



The Bedford, or Woburn, is a breed originating with 
the Duke of Bedford, on his estate at Woburn, and brought 
to their perfection, probably, by judicious crosses of the 
Chinese hog on some of the best English swine. A pair 
was sent by the duke to this country, as a present to Gen- 
eral Washington ; but they were dishonestly sold by the 
messenger, in Maryland, in which State, and in Pennsyl- 
vania, they were productive of much good at an early day, 
by their extensive distribution through different States. 
Several other importations of this breed have been made 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 563 

at various times, and especially by the enterprising- masters 
of the Liverpool packets, in the neighborhood of New 
York. They are a large, spotted animal, well made, and 
inclining to early maturity and fattening. This is an 
exceedingly valuable hog, but nearly extinct, both in Eng- 
land and in this country, as a breed. 

The Leicester. 



The old Leicestershire breed, in England, was a perfect 
type of the original hogs of the midland counties ; large, 
ungainly, slab-sided animals, of a light color, and spotted 
with brown or black. The only good parts about them 
were their heads and ears, which showed greater traces of 
breeding than any other portions. These have been mate- 
rially improved by various crosses, and the original breed 
has nearly lost all its peculiarities and defects. They may 
now be characterized as a large, white hog, generally 
coarse in the bone and hair, great eaters, and slow in matur- 
ing. Some varieties differ essentially in those particulars, 
and mature early on a moderate amount of food. The 
crosses with small compact breeds are generally thrifty, 
desirable animals. 

The Yorkshire. 



The old Yorkshire breed was one of the very large 
varieties, and one of the most unprofitable for a farmer, 
being greedy feeders, difficult to fatten, and unsound in 
constitution. They were of a dirty white or yellow color, 
spotted with black, had long legs, flat sides, narrow backs, 
weak loins, and large bones. Their hair was short and 
wiry, and intermingled with numerous bristles about the 
head and neck, and their ears long. When full-grown and 
fat, they seldom weighed more than from three hundred 
and fifty to four hundred pounds. 



564 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

These have been crossed with pigs of the mproved 
Leicester breed ; and where the crossings have been judi- 
ciously managed, and not carried too far, a fine race of 
deep-sided, short-legged, thin-haired animals has been 
obtained, fattening kindly, and rising to a weight of from 
two hundred and fifty to four hundred pounds, when killed 
between one and two years old ; and when kept over two 
years, reaching even from five hundred to seven hundred 
pounds. 

They have also been crossed with the Chinese, Neapol- 
itan, and Berkshire breeds, and hardy, profitable, well- 
proportioned animals thereby obtained. The original 
breed, in its purity, size, and defectiveness, is now hardly 
to be met with, havinof shared the fate of other larofe old 
breeds, and given place to smaller and more symmetrical 
animals. The Yorkshire white is among the large breeds 
deservingr commendation amongf us. To the same class 
belong, also, the large Miami white and the Kcnilworth ; 
each frequently attaining, when dressed, a weight of from 
six hundred to eight hundred pounds. 



The Suffolk. 



The old Suffolks are white in color, long-legged, long- 
bodied, with narrow backs, broad foreheads, short hams, 
and abundance of bristles. They are by no means profit- 
able animals. A cross between the Suffolk and Lincoln 
has produced a hardy animal, which fattens kindly, and 
attains the weight of from four hundred to five hundred 
and fifty, and even seven hundred pounds. Another cross, 
much approved by farmers, is that of the Suffolk and Berk- 
shire. 

There are few better breeds, perhaps, than the improved 
Suffolk — that is, the Suffolk crossed with the Chinese. 
The greater part of the pigs on the late Prince Albert's 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 5O5 

farm, near Windsor, were of this breed. They are well- 
formed, compact, of medium size, with round, bulky 
bodies, short legs, small heads and fat cheeks. Many, at 
a year or fifteen months old, weigh from two hundred and 
fifty to three hundred pounds ; at which age they make 
fine bacon hogs. The sucking-pigs are also very delicate 
and delicious. 

Those arising from Berkshire and Suffolk are not so 
well shaped as the latter, being coarser, longer-legged, and 
more prominent about the hips. They are mostly white, 
with thin, fine hair ; some few are spotted, and are easily 




THE SUFFOLK PIG. 



kept in fine condition ; they have a decided aptitude to 
fatten early, and are likewise valuable as store-pigs. 



The Berkshire. 



The Berkshire pigs belong to the large class, and are 
distinguished by their color, which is a sandy or whitish 
brown, spotted regularly with th^ dark brown or black 
spots, and by their having no bristles. The hair is long, 
thin, somewhat curly, and looks rough; the ears are 
fringed with long hair round the outer edge, which gives 
them a ragged or feathery appearance ; the body is thick, 
compact, and well formed ; the legs short, the sides broad, 
the head well set on, the snout short, the jowl thick, the 



566 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER, 



ears erect, skin exceedingly thin ifi texture, the flesh firm 
.and well flavored, and the bacon very superior. This 
breed has generally been considered one of the best in 
England, on account of its smallness of bone, early 
maturity, aptitude to fatten on little food, hardihood, and 
the females being good breeders. Hogs of the pure 
original breed have been known to weigh from eight 
hundred to nine hundred and fifty pounds. 

Numerous crosses have been made from this breed ; 
the principal foreign ones are those with the Chinese and 
Neapolitan swine, made with the view of decreasing the 




A BERKSHIRB BOAK. 



size of the animal, improving the flavor of the flesh, and 
rendering it more delicate ; and the animals thus attained 
are superior to almost any others in their aptitude to 
fatten ; but are very susceptible to cold, from being almost 
entirely without hair. A cross with the Suffolk and Nor- 
folk also is much improved, which produces a hardy kind, 
yielding well when sent to the butcher ; although, under 
most circumstances, the pure Berkshire is the best. 

No other breeds have been so extensively diffused in 
the United State^j within comparatively so brief a period, 
as the Berkshires, and they have produced a marked im- 
provement in many of our former races. They weigh 
variously, from two hundred and fifty to four hundred 



LIVE STOCK —SWINE. 5O7 

pounds net, at sixteen months, according to their food and 
style of breeding ; and some full-grown have dressed to 
more than eight hundred pounds. They particularly excel 
in their hams, which are round, full and heavy, and contain 
a large proportion of lean, tender, and juicy meat of the 
best flavor. 

None of our improved breeds afford long, coarse hair 
or bristles ; and it is a gratifying evidence of our decided 
improvement in this department of domestic animals, that 
our brush-makers are obliged to import most of what they 
use from Russia and northern Europe. This improvement 
is manifest not only in the hair, but in the skin, which is 
soft and mellow to the touch ; in the finer bones, shorter 
head, upright ears, dishing face, delicate muzzle, and wflH 
eye ; and in the short legs, low flanks, deep and wide 
chest, broak back, and early maturity. 



EREBBI^e J{¥IB MjqF^fiSEME^SF 



In the selection of a boar and sow for breeding, much 
more attention and consideration are requisite than is 
generally imagined. It is as easy, with a very little judg- 
ment and management, to procure a good as an inferior 
breed ; and the former is much more remunerative, in 
proportion to the outlay, than the latter can possibly ever 
be. 

The object of the farmer or breeder is to produce and 
retain such an animal as will be best adapted to the pur- 
pose he has in view, whether that is the consumption of 
certain things which could not otherwise be so well dis- 
posed of, the converting into hams, bacon, and pork, or 
the raising of sucking-pigs and porkers for the market. 



568 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Almost all farmers keep one or more pigs to devour the 
offal and refuse, which would otherwise be wasted. This is, 
however, a matter totally distinct from breeding swine. In 
the former case, the animal or animals are purchased young 
for a small price, each person buying as many as he con- 
siders he shall have food enough for, and then sold to the 
butcher, or killed, when in proper condition ; and thus a 
certain degree of profit is realized. In the latter, many 
contingencies must be taken into account: the available 
means of feeding them ; whether or not the food may be 
more profitably disposed of; the facilities afforded by 




THU CHINESE HOG. 



railroads, the vicinity of towns, or large markets, etc., for 
disposing of them. 

In the breeding of swine, as much as that of any other 
live stock, it is importaut to pay great attention, not only 
to the breed, but also to the choice of individuals. The sow 
should produce a great number of young ones, and she 
must be well fed to enable her to support them. Some 
sows bring forth ten, twelve, or even fifteen pigs at a birth ; 
but eight or nine is the usual number; and sows which pro- 
duce fewer than this must be rejected. It is, however, 
probable that fecundity depends also on the boar ; he should, 
therefore, be chosen from a race which multiplies quickly. 

If a bacon and a late market be objects, the large and 
heavy varieties should be selected, care being taken that 
the breed has the character of possessing those qualities 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 569 

most likely to insure a heavy return — growth, and facility 
of taking fat. Good one-year bacon-hogs being in great 
demand, they may be known by their long bodies, low bel- 
lies, and short legs. With these qualities are usually 
coupled long, pendulous ears, which attract purchasers. If, 
however, hogs are to be sold at all seasons to the butchers, 
the animals must attain their full growth and be ready for 
killing before they are a year old. This quality is particu- 
larly prominent in the Chinese breed ; but among our 
ordinary varieties, hogs are often met with better adapted 
for this purpose than for producing large quantities of 
bacon and lard. The Berkshire crossed with Chinese is an 
excellent porker. 

The sow should be chosen from a breed of proper size 
and shape, sound and free from blemishes and defects. In 
every case — whether the object be pork or bacon — the 
points to be looked for in the sow are a small, lively head ; 
a broad and deep chest ; round ribs ; capacious barrel ; a 
haunch falling almost to the hough ; deep and broad loin ; 
ample hips ; and considerable length of body, in propor- 
tion to its height. One qualification should ever be kept 
in view, and, perhaps, should be the first point to which 
the attention should be directed — that is, smallness of 
bone. She should have at least twelve teats ; for it is 
observed that each pig selects a teat for himself and keeps 
to it, so that a pig not having one belonging to him would 
be starved. A good sow should produce a great number 
of pigs, all of equal vigor. She must be very careful of 
them, and not crush them by her weight ; above all, she 
must not be addicted to eating thfe afterbirth, and, what 
may often follow, her own young. If a sow is tainted with 
those bad habits, or if she has difficult labors, or brings 
forth dead pigs, she must be spayed forthwith. It is, 
therefore, well to bring up several young sows at once, so 
as to keep those only which are free from defects. Breed- 
ing sows and boars should never be raised from defective 



570 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

animals. Sows that have very low bellies, almost touching 
the ground, seldom produce large or fine litters. A good- 
sized sow is generally considered more likely to prove a 
good breeder and nurse, and to farrow more easily and 
safely than a small, delicate animal. 

The ancients considered the distinguishing marks of a 
good boar to be a small head, short legs, a long body, large 
thighs and neck, and this latter part thickly covered with 
strong, erect bristles. The most experienced modern 
breeders prefer an animal with a long, cylindrical body ; 
small bones ; well-developed muscles ; a wide chest, which 
denotes strength of constitution ; abroad, straight back; 
short head and fine snout ; brilliant eyes ; a short, thick 
neck; broad, well-developed shoulders; a loose, mellow 
skin ; fine, bright, long hair, and few bristles ; and small 
legs and hips. Some give the preference to long, flapping 
ears ; but experience seems to demonstrate that those 
animals are best which have short, erect, fine ears. The 
boar should always be vigorous and masculine in appear- 
ance. 

Few domesticated animals suffer so much from in-and-in 
breeding as swine. Where this system is pursued, the 
number of young ones is decreased at every litter, until the 
sows become, in a manner, barren. This practice also 
undoubtedly contributes to their liability to hereditary dis 
eases, such as scrofula, epilepsy, and rheumatism ; and 
when those possessing any such diseases are coupled, the 
ruin of the flock is easily and speedily effected, since they 
are propagated by either parent, and always most certainly 
and in most aggravated form, when occurring in both. As 
soon as the slightest degeneracy is observed, tl»e breed 
should be crossed from time to time, keeping sight, how- 
ever, while so doing, of the end in view. The Chinese 
will generally be found the best which can be used for this 
purpose ; since a single cross, and even two, with one of 
these animals, will seldom do harm, but often effect con- 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 571 

siderable improvements. The best form of the progeny 
resiihing from this cross must be selected as breeders, and 
with them the old original stock crossed back again. 
Selection, with judicious and cautious admixture, is the true 
secret of forming and improving the breed. Repeated and 
indiscriminate crosses are as injurious as an obstinate 
adherence to one particular breed, and as much to be 
avoided. 

The following rules for the selection of the best stock 
of hogs will apply to all breeds: 

Fertility. — In a breeding sow, this quality is essential, 
and it is one which is inherited. Besides this, she should 
be a careful mother. A young, untried sow will generally 
display in her tendencies those which have predominated 
in the race from which she has descended. Both boar and 
sow should be sound, healthy, and in fair, but not over-fat, 
condition. 

Form. — Where a farmer has an excellent breed, but with 
certain defects, or too long in the limb, or too heavy in the 
bone, the sire to be chosen, whether of a pure or of a cross 
breed, should exhibit the opposite qualities, even to an 
extreme ; and be, moreover, one of a strain noted for early 
and rapid fattening. If in perfect health, young stock 
selected for breeding will be lively, animated, hold up the 
head, and move freely and nimbly. 

Bristles. — These should be fine and scanty, so as to 
show the skin smooth and glossy ; coarse, wiry, rough 
bristles usually accompany heavy bones, large, spreading 
hoofs, and flapping ears, and thus* become one of the 
indications of a thick-skinned and low breed. 

Color. — Different breeds of high excellence have their 
own colors; white, black, parti-colored, white-and-black, 
sandy, mottled with large marks of black, are the most 
prevalent. A black skin, with short, scanty bristles, and 
small stature, demonstrate the prevalence of the Neapolitan 
strain, or the black Chinese, or, perhaps, an admixture of 



572 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

both. Many prefer white ; and in sucking-pigs, destined 
for the table, and for porkers, this color has its advantages, 
and the skin looks more attractive ; it is, however, gener- 
ally thought that the skin of black hogs is thinner than that 
of white, and less subject to eruptive diseases. 

The influence of a first impregnation upon subsequent 
progeny by other males is at times curiously illustrated. 
This has been noticed in respect of the sow. A sow of 
the black-and-white breed, in one instance, became pregnant 
by a boar of the wild breed of a deep chestnut color. The 
pigs produced were duly mixed, the color of the boar being 
very predominant in some. The sow being afterwards put 
to a boar of the same breed as herself, some of the produce 
were still stained, or marked, with the chestnut color which 
prevailed in the first litter ; and the same occurred after a 
third impregnation, the boar being then of the same kind 
as herself. What adds to the force of this case is, that, in 
the course of many years' observation, the breed in ques- 
tion was never known to produce progeny having the 
slightest tinge of chestnut color. 

A sow is capable of conceiving at the age of six or 
seven months ; but it is always better not to let her com- 
mence breeding too early, as it tends to weaken her. From 
ten to twelve months^and the latter is preferable — is 
about the best age. The boar should be, at least, a twelve- 
month old — some even recommend eighteen months, at 
least — before he is employed for the purpose of propa- 
gating his species. If, however, the sow has attained her 
second year, and the boar his third, a vigorous and numer- 
ous offspring is more likely to result. The boar and sow 
retain their ability to breed for almost five years ; that is, 
until the former is upward of eight years old, and the latter 
seven. It is not advisable, however, to use a boar after he 
has passed his fifth year, nor a sow after her fourth, unless 
she has proved a peculiarly valuable breeder — in which 
case, she might produce two or three more litters. 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 573 

A boar left on the pasture, at liberty with the sows, 
might suffice for thirty or forty of them ; but as he is com- 
monly shut up, and allowed access at stated times only, so 
that the young ones may be born at nearly the same time, 
it is usual to allow him to serve from six to ten — on no 
account should he serve more. The best plan is, to shut 
up the boar and sow in a sty together ; for, when turned in 
among several females, he is apt to ride them so often that 
he exhausts himself without effect. The breeding boar 
should be fed well and kept in high condition, but not fat. 
Full-grown boars being often savage and difficult to tame, 
and prone to attack men and animals, should be deprived 
of their tusks. 

Whenever it is practicable, it should always be so 
arranged that the animals shall farrow early in the spring, 
and at the latter end of summer, or quite the beginning of 
autumn. In the former case, the young pigs will have the 
run of the early pastures, which will be a benefit to them, 
and a saving to their owners ; and there will also be more 
whey, milk and other dairy produce which can be spared 
for them by the time they are ready to be weaned. In the 
second case, there will be sufficient time for the young to 
have grown and acquired strength before the cold weather 
comes on, which is always very injurious to sucking pigs. 



Points of a Good Hog. 



It may be not amiss to group together what is deemed 
desirable under this head. No one should be led away by 
mere name in his selection of a hog. It may be called a 
Berkshire, or a Suffolk, or any other breed most in estima- 
tion, and yet, in reaHty, may possess none of this valuable 
blood. The only sure way to avoid imposition is, to make 
name always secondary to points. If a hog is found pos- 
sessing such points of form as are calculated to insure early 



574 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

maturity and faculty of taking on flesh, no one needs to 
care but little by what name he is called; since no mere 
name can bestow value upon an animal deficient in the 
qualities already indicated. 

The true Berkshire — that possessing a dash of the 
Chinese and Neapolitan varieties — comes, perhaps, nearer 
to the desired standard than any other. 

The chief points which characterize such a hog are the 
following : In the first place, sufficient depth of carcass, 
and such an elongation of body as will insure a sufficient 
lateral expansion. The loin and breast should be broad. 




SKELETON IM- THE HOG AS COVERED BY THE MUSCLES. 

The breadth of the former denotes good room for the play 
of the lungs, and, as a consequence, a free and healthy cir- 
culation, essential to the thriving or fattening of any animal. 
The bone should be small, and the joints fine — nothing is 
more indicative of high breeding than this ; and the legs 
should be no longer than, when fully fat, would just pre- 
vent the animal's belly from trailing upon the ground. The 
leg is the least profitable portion of the hog, and no more 
of it is required than is absolutely necessary for the sup- 
port of the rest. The feet should be firm and sound ; the 
toes should lie well together, and press straightly upon the 
ground ; the claws, also, should be even, upright and 
healthy. 



Live stock — swine. 575 

The form of the head is sometimes deemed of little or 
no consequence, it being generally, perhaps, supposed that 
a good hog may have an ugly head ; but the head of all 
animals is one of the very principal points in which pure or 
impure breeding will be most obviously indicated. A high- 
bred animal will invariably be found to arrive more speedily 
at maturity, to take flesh more easily, and at an earlier 
period, and, altogether, to turn out more profitably than 
one of questionable or impure stock. Such being the case, 
the head of the hog is a point by no means to be over- 
looked. The description of head most likely to promise 
— or, rather to be the accompaniment? of — high breeding, 
is one not carrying heavy bones, not too flat on the fore- 
head, or possessing a snout too elongated ; the snout should 
be short, and the forehead rather convex, curving upward ; 
and the ear, while pendulous, should incline somewhat for- 
ward, and at the same time be light and thin. The carriage 
of the pig should also be noticed. If this be dull, heavy, 
and dejected, one may reasonably suspect ill health, if not 
some concealed disorder actually existing, or just about to 
break forth ; and there cannot be a more unfavorable 
symptom than a hung-down, slouching head. Of course, 
a fat hog for slaughter and a sow heavy with young, have 
not much sprightliness of deportment. 

Color is, likewise, not to be disregarded. Those colors 
are preferable which are characteristic of the most esteemed 
breeds. If the hair is scant, black is desirable, as denoting 
connection with the Neapolitan ; if too bare of hair, a too 
intimate alliance with that variety may be apprehended, 
and a consequent want of hardihood, 'which —however 
unimportant, if pork be the object — renders such animals 
a hazardous speculation for store purposes, on account of 
their extreme susceptibility of cold, and consequent liability 
to disease. If white, and not too small, they are valuable 
as exhibiting connection with the Chinese. If light, or 
sandy, or red with black marks, the favorite Berkshire is 



S76 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

detected; and so on, with reference to every possible 
variety of hue. 

Treatment During Pregnancy. 



Sows with pig's should be well and judiciously fed ; that 
is to say, they should have a sufficiency of wholesome, 
nutritious food to maintain their strength and keep them in 
g'ood condition, but should by no means be allowed to get 
fat; as when they are in high condition, the dangers of 
parturition are enhanced, the animal is more awkward and 
liable to smother and crush her young, and, moreover, 
never has as much or as good milk as a leaner sow. She 
should also have a separate sty ; for swine are prone to lie 
so close together that if she is even among others, her 
young would be in great danger ; and this sty should be 
perfectly clean and comfortably littered, but not so thickly 
as to admit of the young being able to bury themselves in 
the straw. 

As the time of her farrowing approaches, she should be 
well supplied with food, especially if she be a young sow, 
and this her first litter, and also carefully watched, in order 
to prevent her devouring the afterbirth, and thus engen- 
dering a morbid appetite which will next induce her to fall 
upon her own young. A sow that has once done this can 
never afterward be depended upon. Hunger, thirst, or 
irritation of any kind, will often induce this unnatural 
conduct, which is another reason why a sow about to 
farrow should have a sty to herself, and be carefully 
attended to, and have all her wants supplied. 

Abortion. 



This is by no means of so common occurrence in the 
case of the sow as in many other of the domesticated 
animals. Various causes tend to produce it: insufficiency 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 577 

of food, eating too much succulent vegetable food, or 
unwholesome, unsubstantial diet; blows and falls; and the 
animal's habit of rubbing itself against hard bodies, for the 
purpose of allaying the irritation produced by the vermin 
or cutaneous eruptions to which it is subject. Reiterated 
copulation does not appear to produce abortion in the sow ; 
at least to the extent it does in other animals. 

The symptoms indicative of approaching abortion are 
similar to those of parturition, but more intense. These 
are, generally, restlessness, irritation, and shivering; and 
the cries of the animal evince the presence of severe labor- 
pains. Sometimes the rectum, vagina, or uterus, becomes 
relaxed, and one or the other protrudes, and often becomes 
inverted at the moment of the expulsion of the foetus, pre- 
ceded by the placenta, which presents itself foremost. 

Nothing can be done at the last hour, to prevent abor- 
tion ; but, from the first, every predisposing cause should 
be removed. The treatment will depend upon circum- 
stances. Where the animal is young, vigorous, and in high 
condition, bleeding will be beneficial — not a copious blood- 
letting, but small quantities taken at different times ; pur- 
gatives may also be administered. If, when abortion has 
taken place, the whole of the litter was not born, emollient 
injections may be resorted to with considerable benefit ; 
otherwise, the after treatment should be made the same as 
in parturition, and the animal should be kept warm, quiet, 
and clean, and allowed a certain degree of liberty. When- 
ever one sow has aborted, the causes likely to have pro- 
duced this accident should be sought, and an endeavor 
made, by removing them, to secure the rest of the inmates 
of the piggery from a similar mishap. 

In cases of abortion, the foetus is seldom born alive, 
and often has been dead for some days ; where this is the 
case — which may be readily detected by a peculiarly 
unpleasant putrid exhalation, and the discharge of a fetid 
liquid from the vagina — the parts should be washed with a 



57^ THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

diluted solution of chloride of lime, in the proportion of 
one part of chloride to three parts of water, and a portion 
of this lotion gently injected into the uterus, if the animal 
will submit to it. Mild doses of Epsom salts, tincture of 
gentian, and Jamaica ginger, will also act beneficially in 
such cases, and, with attention to diet, soon restores the 
animal. 

Parturition. 



The period of gestation varies according to age, con- 
stitution, food, and the peculiarities of the individual breed. 
The most usual period during which the sow carries her 
young is, according to some, three months, three weeks, 
and three days or one hundred and eight days; according 
to others, four lunar months, or sixteen weeks, or about 
one hundred and thirteen days. It may safely be said to 
range from one hundred and nine to one hundred and forty- 
three days. 

The sow produces from eight to thirteen young at a lit- 
ter, and sometimes even more. Young and weakly sows 
not only produce fewer pigs, but farrow earlier than those 
of maturer age and sounder condition ; and besides, as 
might be expected, their offspring are deficient in vigor; 
oftentimes, indeed, puny and feeble. Extraordinary 
fecundity is not, however, desirable, for nourishment can- 
not be afforded to more than twelve, the sow's number of 
teats. The supernumerary pigs must therefore suffer ; if 
but one, it is, of course, the smallest and weakest ; a too 
numerous litter are all, indeed, generally undersized and 
weakly, and seldom or never prove profitable ; a litter not 
exceeding ten will usually be found to turn out most advan- 
tageously. On account of the discrepancy between the 
number farrowed by different sows, it is a good plan, if it 
can be managed, to have more than one breeding at the 
same time, in order that the number to be suckled by each 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 579 

maybe equalized. The sow seldom recognizes the pres- 
ence of a strange little one, if it has been introduced among 
the others during her absence, and has lain for half an hour 
or so among her own offspring in their sty. 

The approach of the period of farrowing is marked 
by the immense size of the belly, by a depression of the 
back, and by the distention of the teats. The animal man- 
ifests symptoms of acute suffering, and wanders restlessly 
about, collecting straw, and carrying it to her sty, grunting 
piteously meanwhile. As soon as this is observed, she 
should be persuaded into a separate sty, and carefully 
watched. On no account should several sows be permit- 
ted to farrow in the same place at the same time, as they 
will inevitably irritate each other, or devour their own or 
one another's young. 

The young ones should be taken away as soon as they 
are born, and deposited in a warm spot ; for the sow being 
a clumsy animal, is not unlikely in her struggles to overlie 
them ; nor should they be returned to her, until all is over, 
and the afterbirth has been removed, which should always 
be done the moment it passes from her ; for young sows, 
especially, will invariably devour it, if permitted, and then, 
as the young are wet with a similar fluid, and smell the 
same, they will eat them also, one after another. Some 
advise washing the backs of young pigs with a decoction 
of aloes, colocynth, or some other nauseous substance, as 
a remedy for this ; but the simplest and easiest one is to 
remove the little ones until all is over, ind the mother 
begins to recover herself and seek about for them, when 
they should be put near her. Some also recommend strap- 
ping up the sow's mouth for the first three or four days, 
only releasing it to admit of her taking her meals. 

Some sows are apt to lie upon and crush their young. 
This may best be avoided by not keeping her too fat or 
heavy, and by not leaving too many young upon her. The 
straw forming the bed should likewise be short, and not in 



S8o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

too great quantity, lest the pigs get huddled up under it, 
and the sow unconsciously over-lie them in that condition. 
It does not always happen that the parturition is 
effected with ease. Cases of false presentation, of en- 
larged fcetus, and of debility in the mother, often render it 
difficult and dangerous. The womb will occasionally become 
protruded and inverted, in consequence of the forcing 
pains of difficult parturition, and even the bladder has been 
known to come away. These parts must be returned as 
soon as may be ; and if the womb has come in contact 
with the dung or litter, and acquired any dirt, it must be 
washed in lukewarm water, and then returned, and confined 
in its place by means of a suture passed through the lips of 
the orifice. The easiest and perhaps the best way, however, 
is not to return the protruded parts at all, but merely tie a 
ligature round them and leave them to slough off, which 
they will do in the course of a few days without effusion of 
blood, or further injury to the animal. No sow that has 
once suffered from protrusion of the womb should be 
allowed to breed again. 



Treatment While Suckling. 

Much depends upon this ; as many a fine sow and 
promising litter have been ruined for want of proper and 
judicious care at this period. Immediately after farrowing, 
many sows incline to be feverish ; where this is the case, a 
light and sparing diet only should be given them for the 
first day or two, as gruel, oatmeal porridge, whey, and the 
like. Others, again, are very much debilitated, and require 
strengthening ; for them, strong soup, bread steeped in 
wine, or in a mixture of brandy and sweet spirits of nitre, 
administered in small quantities, will often prove highly 
beneficial. 

The rations must gradually be increased and given 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 58 1 

more frequently ; and they must be composed of whole- 
some, nutritious, and succulent substances. All kinds of 
roots — carrots, turnips, potatoes, and beet-roots — well 
steamed or boiled, but never raw, may be given ; bran, 
barley, and oatmeal, bran flour, Indian corn, whey, sour, 
skim, and butter-milk, are all well adapted for this period; 
and, should the animal appear to require it, grain well 
bruised and macerated may be added. Whenever it is 
possible, the sow should be turned out for an hour each 
day, to graze in a meadow or clover-field, as the fresh air, 
exercise, and herbage will do her immense good. The 
young pigs must be shut up for the first ten days or fort- 
night, after which they will be able to follow her, and take 
their share of the benefit. 

The food should be given regularly at certain hours ; 
small and often-repeated meals are far preferable to large 
ones, since indigestion or any disarrangement of the func- 
tions of the stomach vitiates the milk, and produces 
diarrhea and other similar affections in the young. The 
mother should always be well fed, but not over-fed ; the 
better and more carefully she is fed, the more abundant 
and nutritious will her milk be, the better will the sucking- 
pigs thrive, and the less will she be reduced by suckling 
them. 

When a sow is weakly, and has not a sufficiency of 
milk, the young pigs must be taught to feed as early as 
possible. A kind of gruel, made of skim-milk and bran, or 
oatmeal, is a good thing for this purpose, or potatoes, 
boiled and then mashed in milk or whey, with or without 
the addition of a little bran or oatmeal. Toward the period 
when the pigs are to be weaned, the sow must be less 
plentifully fed, otherwise the secretion of milk will be as 
great as ever ; it will, besides, accumulate, and there will 
be hardness, and perhaps inflammation of the teats. If 
necessary, a dose of physic may be given to assist in 
carrying off the milk ; but, in general, a little judicious 



582 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

management in the feeding and weaning will be all that is 
required. 

Treatment of Young Pigs. 



For the first ten days, or a fortnight, the mother will 
generally be able to support her litter without assistance, 
unless, as has been already observed, she is weakly, or her 
young are too numerous ; in either of which cases they 
must be fed from the first. When the young pigs are 
about a fortnight old, warm milk should be given to them. 
In another week, this may be thickened with some species 
of farina; and afterward, as they gain strength and increase 
in size, boiled roots and vegetables may be added. As 
soon as they begin to eat, an open frame or railing should 
be placed in the sty, under which the little pigs can run, 
and on the other side of this should be the small troughs 
containing their food ; for it never answers to let them eat 
out of the same trough with their mother, because the food 
set before her is generally too strong and stimulating for 
them, even if they should secure any of it, which is, to say 
the least, extremely doubtful. Those intended to be killed 
for sucking-pigs should not be above four weeks old; most 
kill them for this purpose on the twenty-first or twenty- 
second day. The others, excepting those kept for breed- 
ing, should be castrated at the same time. 

Castration and Spaying. 



Pigs are chiefly castrated with a view to fattening them ; 
and doubtless, this operation has the desired effect — for 
at the same time that it increases the quiescent qualities of 
the animal, it diminishes also his courage, spirits, and 
nobler attributes, and even affects his form. The tusks of 
a castrated boar never grow like those of the natural ani- 
mal, but always have a dwarfed, stunted appearance. The 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 583 

Operation, if possible, should be performed in the spring or 
autumn, as the temperature is the more uniform, and care 
should be taken that the animal is in perfect health. Those 
which are fat and plethoric should be prepared by bleeding, 
cooling- diet and quiet. Pigs are castrated at all ages, from 
a fortnight to three, six and eight weeks, and even four 
months old. 

There are various modes of performing this operation. 
If the pig is not more than six weeks old, an incision is 
made at the bottom of the scrotum, the testicle pushed out, 
and the cord cut, without any precautionary means what- 
ever. When the animal is older, there is reason to fear 
that hemorrhage, to a greater or less extent, will super- 
vene; consequently, it will be advisable to pass a ligature 
round the cord a little above the spot where the division is 
to take place. 

By another mode — to be practiced only on very young 
animals — a portion of the base of the scrotum is cut off, 
the testicles forced out, and the cord sawn through with a 
somewhat serrated but blunt instrument. If there is any 
hemorrhage, it is arrested by putting ashes in the wound. 
The animal is then dismissed and nothing further done 
with him. 

On animals two and three years old, the operation is 
sometimes performed in the following manner: An assist- 
ant holds the pig, pressing the back of the animal against 
his chest and belly, keeping the head elevated, and grasp- 
ing all the four legs together ; or, which is the preferable 
way, one assistant holds the animal against his chest, while 
another kneels down and secures the four legs. The 
operator then grasps the scrotum with his left hand, makes 
one horizontal incision across its base, opening both divi- 
sions of the bag at the same time. The testicles are then 
pressed out with his finger and thumb, and removed with a 
blunt knife, which lacerates the part without bruising it and 
rendering it painful. Laceration only is requisite in order 



584 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

to prevent the subsequent hemorrhage which would occur 
if the cord were simply severed by a sharp instrument. 
The wound is then closed by pushing the edges gently 
together with the fingers, and it speedily heals. Some 
break the spermatic cord without tearing it ; they twist it, 
and then pull it gently and firmly until it gives way. 

In other cases, a waxed cord is passed as tightly as 
possible round the scrotum, above the epididymus, which 
completely stops the circulation, and in a few days the 
scrotum and testicles will drop off. This operation should 
never be performed on pigs of more than six weeks of age, 
and the spermatic should always, first of all, be measured. 
It, moreover, requires great nicety and skill ; otherwise 
accidents will occur, and considerable pain and inflamma- 
tion be caused. Too thick a cord, a knot not tied sufficiently 
tight, or a portion of the testicle included in the ligature, 
will prevent its success. 

The most fatal consequence of castration is tetanus, or 
lockjaw, induced by the shockcommunicated to the nervous 
system by the torture of the operation. 



Spaying. 

This operation consists in removing the ovaries, and 
sometimes a portion of the uterus, more or less consider- 
able, of the female. The animal is laid upon its left side, 
and firmly held by one or two assistants ; an incision is 
then made into the flank, the forefinger of the right hand 
introduced into it, and gently moved about, until it encoun- 
ters and hooks hold of the right ovary, which it draws 
through the opening ; a ligature is then passed round this 
one, and the left ovary felt for in like manner. The oper- 
ator then severs these two ovaries, either by cutting or 
tearing, and returns the womb and its appurtenances to 
their proper position. This being done, he closes the 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 585 

wound with two or three stitches, sometimes rubs a Httle 
oil over it, and releases the animal. All goes on well, for 
the healing power of the pig is very great. 

The after-treatment is very simple. The animals should 
be well littered with clean straw, in styes weather-tight and 
thoroughly ventilated ; their diet should be cared for ; some 
milk or whey, with barley-meal, is an excellent article; it 
is well to confine them for a few days, as they should be 
prevented from getting into cold water or mud until the 
wound is perfectly healed, and also from creeping through 
fences. 

The best age for spaying a sow is about six weeks ; 
indeed, as a general rule, the younger the animal is when 
either operation is performed, the quicker it recovers. Some 
persons, however, have two or three litters from their sows 
before they operate upon them ; where this is the case, the 
result is more to be feared, as the parts have become more 
susceptible, and are, consequently, more liable to take on 
inflammation. 

Weaning. 



Some farmers wean the pigs a few hours after birth, and 
turn the sow at once to the boar. The best mode, how- 
ever, is to turn the boar into the hog-yard about a week 
after parturition, at which time the sow should be removed 
a few hours daily from her young. It does not injure 
either the sow or her pigs, if she takes the boar while 
suckling; but some sows will not do so until the drying of 
their milk. 

The age at which pigs may be weaned to the greatest 
advantage is when they are about eight or ten weeks old ; 
many, however, wean them as early as six weeks, but they 
seldom turn out as well. They should not be taken from 
the sow at once, but gradually weaned. At first they 
should be removed from her for a certain number of hours 



586 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

each day, and accustomed to be impelled by hunger to eat 
from the trough ; then they may be turned out for an hour 
without her, and afterward shut up while she also is turned 
out by herself. Subsequently, they must only be allowed 
to suck a certain number of times in twenty-four hours ; 
perhaps six times at first, then four, then three, and, at last, 
only once ; and meanwhile they must be proportionally 
better and more plentifully fed, and the mother's diet in a 
like manner diminished. Some advise that the whole litter 
should be weaned at once ; this is not best, unless one or 
two of the pigs are much weaker and smaller than the 
others ; in such case, if the sow remain in tolerable condi- 
tion, they might be suffered to suck for a week longer; but 
this should be the exception, and not a general rule. 

Pigs are more easily weaned than almost any other 
animals, because they learn to feed sooner ; but attention 
must, nevertheless, be paid to them, if they are to grow up 
strong, healthy animals. Their styes must be warm, dry, 
clean, well-ventilated, and weather-tight. They should 
have the run of a grass meadow or enclosure for an hour 
or two every fine day, in spring and summer, or be turned 
into the farm-yard among the cattle in the winter, as fresh 
air and exercise tend to prevent them from becoming 
rickety or crooked in the legs. 

The most nutritious and succulent food that circum- 
stances will permit should be furnished them. Newly- 
weaned pigs require five or six meals in the twenty-four 
hours. In about ten days, one may be omitted ; in another 
week, a second ; and then they should do with three regu- 
lar meals each day. A little sulphur mingled with the food 
or a small quantity of Epsom or Glauber salts dissolved in 
the water, will frequently prove beneficial. A plentiful 
supply of clear, cold water should always be within their 
reach ; the food left in the trough after the animals have fin- 
ished eating should be removed, and the trough thoroughly 
rinsed out before any more is put into it. Strict attention 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 587 

should also be paid to cleanliness. The boars and sows 
should be kept apart from the period of weaning. 

The question, which is more profitable, to breed swine, 
or to buy young pigs and fatten them, can best be deter- 
mined by those interested ; since they know best what 
resources they can command, and what chance of profits 
each of these separate branches offers. , 



Ringing. 



This operation is performed to counteract the propen- 
sity which swine have of digging and furrowing up the 
earth. The ring is passed through what appears to be a 
prolongation of the septum, between the supplemental, or 
snout-bone, and the nasal. The animal is thus unable to 
obtain sufficient purchase to use his snout with any effect, 
without causing the ring to press so painfully upon the part 
that he is forced to desist. The ring, however, is apt to 
break, or it wears out in process of time, and has to be 
replaced. 

The snout should be perforated at weaning-time, after 
the animal has recovered from castration or spaying ; and 
it will be necessary to renew the operation as it becomes of 
large growth. It is too generally neglected at first ; but no 
pigs, young or old, should be suffered to run at large with- 
out this precaution. The sow's ring should be ascertained 
to be of sufficient strength previously to her, taking the 
boar, on account of the risk of abortion, if the operation is 
renewed while she is with pig. Care must be taken by the 
operator not to go too close to the bone, and that the ring 
turns easily. 

A far better mode of proceeding is, when the pig is 
young, to cut through the cartilaginous and ligamentous 
prolongations, by which the supplementary bone is united 
to the proper nasals. The divided edges of the cartilage 



588 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

will never reunite, and the snout always remains power- 
less. 

Feeding and Fattening. 



Roots and fruits are the natural food of the hog, in a 
wild as well as jn a domesticated state ; and it is evident 
that, however omnivorous it may occasionally appear, its 
palate is by no means insensible to the difference in eatables, 
since, whenever it finds variety, it will select the best with 
as much cleverness as other quadrupeds. Indeed, the hog 
is more nice in the selection of his vegetable diet than any 
of the other domesticated herbivorous animals. To a cer- 
tain extent he is omnivorous, and may be reared on the 
refuse of slaughter-houses ; but such food is not wholesome, 
nor is it natural ; for, though he is omnivorous, he is not 
carnivorous. The refuse of the dairy-farm is more con- 
genial to his health, to say nothing of the quality of its 
flesh. 

Swine are generally fattened for pork at from six to nine 
months old ; and for bacon, at from a year to two years. 
Eighteen months is generally considered the proper age 
for a good bacon hog. The feeding will always, in a great 
measure, depend upon the circumstances of the owner — 
upon the kind of food which he has at his disposal, and can 
best spare — and the purpose for which the animal is in- 
tended. It will also, in some degree, be regulated by the 
season ; it being possible to feed pigs very differently in 
the summer from what they are fed in the winter. 

The refuse wash and grains, and other residue of brew- 
eries and distilleries, may be given to swine with advantage, 
and seem to induce a tendency to lay on flesh. They 
should not, however, be given in too large quantities, nor 
unmixed with other and more substantial food ; since, 
although they give flesh rapidly when fed on it, the meat is 
not firm, and never makes good bacon. Hogs eat acorns 



LIVfi STOCK — SWINE. 589 

and beech-mast greedily, and so far thrive on this food that 
it is an easy matter to fatten them afterwards. Apples and 
pumpkins are likewise valuable for this purpose. 

There is nothing so nutritious, so eminently and in 
every way adapted for the purpose of fattening, as are the 
various kinds of grain — nothing that tends more to create 
firmness as well as delicacy in the flesh. Indian corn is 
equal, if not superior, to any kind of grain for fattening 
purposes, and can be given in its natural state, as pigs are 
so fond of it that they will eat up every kernel. The pork 
and bacon of animals that have been thus fed are peculiarly 
firm and solid. Animal food tends to make swine savage 
and feverish, and often lays the foundation of serious 
inflammation of the intestines. Weekly washing with soap 
and a brush adds wonderfully to the thriving condition of 
a hog. 

In the rich corn regions of our States, upon that grain 
beginning to ripen, as it does in August, the fields are 
fenced off into suitable lots, and large herds are success- 
ively turned into them, to consume the grain at their 
leisure. They waste nothing except the stalks, which in 
that land of plenty are considered of little value, and they 
are still useful as manure for succeeding crops ; and what- 
ever grain is left by them, leaner droves which follow will 
readily glean. Peas, early buckwheat, and apples, may be 
fed on the ground in the same way. 

There is an improvement in the character of the grain 
from a few months' keeping, which is fully equivalent to 
the interest of the money and the cost of storage. If fat- 
tened early in the season, hogs will consume less food to 
make an equal amount of flesh than in colder weather; 
they will require less attention ; and, generally, early pork 
will command the highest price in market. 

It is most economical to provide swine with a fine clover 
pasture to run in during the spring and summer ; and they 
ought also to have access to the orchard, to pick up all the 



590 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

unripe and superfluous fruit that falls. They should also 
have the wash of the house and the dairy, to which add 
meal, and let it sour in large tubs or barrels. Not less 
than one-third, and perhaps more, of the whole grain fed 
to hogs, is saved by grinding and cooking, or souring. 
Care must, however, be taken that the souring be not car- 
ried so far as to injure the food by putrefaction. A mixture 
of meal and water, with the addition of yeast or such re- 
mains of a former fermentation as adhere to the sides or 
bottom of the vessel, and exposure to a temperature 
between sixty-eight and seventy-seven degrees Fahrenheit, 
will produce immediate fermentation. 

In this process there are five stages: the saccharine, by 
which the starch and gum of the vegetables, in their 
natural condition, are converted into sugar; the vinous, 
which changes the sugar into alcohol ; the mucilaginous, 
sometimes taking the place of the vinous, and occurring 
where the sugar solution, or fermenting principle, is weak, 
producing a slimy, glutinous product; the acetic, forming 
vinegar from the vinous or alcoholic stage ; and the putre- 
factive, which destroys all the nutritive principles and con- 
verts them into a poison. The precise points in fermenta- 
tion, when the food becomes most profitable for feed- 
ing, has not as yet been satisfactorily determined ; but that 
it should stop short of the putrefactive, and probably the 
full maturity of the acetic, is certain. 

The roots for fattening ought to be washed, and steamed 
or boiled ; and when not intended to be fermented, the meal 
may be scalded with the roots. A small quantity of salt 
should be added. Potatoes are the best roots for swine; 
then parsnips; orange or red carrots, white or Belgian; 
sugar-beets; mangel-wurtzels ; rutabagas, and then white 
turnips, in the order mentioned. The nutritive properties 
of turnips are diffused through so large a bulk that it is 
doubtful if they can ever be fed to fattening swine with 
advantage; and they will barely sustain life when fed to 
them uncooked. 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. S91 

There is a great loss in feeding roots to fattening swine, 
without cooking. When unprepared grain is fed, it should 
be on a full stomach, to prevent imperfect mastication, and 
consequent loss of the food. It is better, indeed, to have 
it always before them. The animal machine is an expensive 
one to keep in motion ; and it should be the object of the 
farmer to put his food in the most available condition for 
its immediate conversion into fat and muscle. 

The following injunctions should be rigidly observed, if 
one would secure the greatest results: 

1. Avoid foul feeding. 

2. Do not omit adding salt in moderate quantities to 
the mess given. 

3. Feed at regular mtervals. 

4. Cleanse the troughs previously to feeding. 

5. Do not over-feed; give only as much as will be con- 
sumed at the meal. 

6. Vary the food. Variety will create, or, at all events, 
increase appetite, and it is most conducive to health. Let 
the variations be governed by the condition of the dung 
cast, which should be of medium consistence, and of a 
grayish-brown color; if hard, increase the quantity of bran 
and succulent roots; if too liquid, diminish, or dispense 
with bran, and make the mess firmer; add a portion of 
corn. 

7. Feed the stock separately, in classes, according to 
their relative conditions. Keep sows with young by them- 
selves, store-hogs by themselves, and bacori-hogs and 
porkers by thetnselves. It is not advisable to keep the 
store-hogs too high in flesh, since high feeding is cal- 
culated to retard development of form and bulk. It is 
better to feed pigs intended to be put up for bacon loosely 
and not too abundantly, until they have attained their full 
stature ; they can then be brought into the highest possible 
condition in a surprisingly short space of time. 

8. Keep the swine clean, dry and warm. Cleanliness, 



592 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

dryness and warmth are essential, and as imperative as 
feeding; for an inferior description of food will, by their 
aid, succeed far better than the highest feeding will without 
them. 

Piggeries. 



Few items conduce more to the thriving and well-being 
of swine than airy, spacious, well-constructed styes, and 
above all, cleanliness. They were formerly too often 
housed in damp, dirty, close, and imperfectly-built sheds, 
which was a fruitful source of disease and of unthrifty ani- 
mals. Any place was once thought good enough to keep a 
pig in. 

In large establishments, where numerous pigs are kept, 
there should be divisions appropriated to all the different 
kinds ; the boars, the breeding sows, the newly weaned, 
and the fattening pigs should all be kept separate ; and in 
the divisions assigned to the second and last of these 
classes, it is best to have a distinct apartment for each 
animal, all opening into a yard or inclosure of limited 
extent. As pigs require warmth, these buildings should 
face the south, and be kept weather-tight and well drained. 
Good ventilation is also important; for it is idle to expect 
animals to make good flesh and retain their health, unless 
they have a sufficiency of pure air. The blood requires 
this to give it vitality and free it from impurities, as much 
as the stomach requires wholesome and strengthening food ; 
and when it does not have it, it becomes vitiated, and 
impairs all the animal functions. Bad smells and exhala- 
tions, moreover, injure the flavor of the meat. 

Damp and cold floors should be guarded against, as 
they tend to induce cramp and diarrhea ; and the roof 
should be so contrived as to carry off the wet from the 
pigs. The walls of a well-constructed sty should be of 
solid masonry ; the roof sloping, and furnished with spouts 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 593 

to carry off the rain ; the floors either slightly inclined 
toward a gutter made to carry off the rain, or else raised 
from the ground on beams or joists, and perforated so that 
all urine and moisture shall drain off. Bricks and tiles, 
sometimes used for flooring, are objectionable, because, 
however well covered with straw, they still strike cold. 
Wood is far superior in this respect, as well as because it 
admits of those clefts or perforations being made, which 
serve not only to drain off all moisture, but also to admit 
fresh air. 

The manure proceeding from the pig-sty has often been 
much undervalued, and for this reason, that the litter is 
supposed to form the principal portion of it ; whereas it 
constitutes the least valuable part, and, indeed, it can 
scarcely be regarded as manure at all — at least by itself 
— where the requisite attention is paid to the cleanliness of 
the animals and of their dwellings. The urine and the 
dung are valuable, being from the very nature of the food 
of the animals, exceedingly rich and oleaginous, and 
materially beneficial to cold soils and grass-lands. The 
manure from the sty should always be collected as care- 
fully as that from the stable or cow-house, and husbanded 
in the same way. 

The door of each sty ought to be so hung that it will 
open inward or outward, so as to give the animals free 
ingress and egress. For this purpose, it should be hung 
across from side to side, and the animal can push it up to 
effect its entry or exit ; for, if it were hung in thte ordinary 
way, it would derange the litter every time it opened 
inward, and be very liable to hitch. If it is not intended 
that the pigs shall leave their sty, there should be an upper 
and lower door; the former of which should always be left 
open when the weather is warm and dry, while the latter 
will serve to confine the animal. There should likewise be 
windows or slides, which can be opened or closed at will, 

to give admission to the fresh air, or exclude rain or cold. 

38 



S94 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Wherever it can be managed, the troughs — which 
should be of stone or cast metal, since wooden ones will 
soon be gnawed to pieces — should be so situated that they 
can be filled and cleaned from the outside, without inter- 
fering with or disturbing the animals at all ; and for this 
purpose it is well to have a flap, or door, with swinging 
hinges, made to hang horizontally on the trough, so that it 
can be moved to and fro, and alternately be fastened by a 
bolt to the inside or outside of the manger. When the 
hogs have fed sufficiently, the door is swung inward and 
fastened, and so remains until feeding-time, when the 
trough is cleansed and refilled without any trouble, and 
then the flap drawn back, and the animals admitted to their 
food. Some cover the trough with a lid having as many 
holes in it as there are pigs to eat from it, which gives 
each pig an opportunity of selecting his own hole, and 
eating away without interfering with or incommoding his 
neighbor. 

A hog ought to have three apartments, one each for 
sleeping, eating, and evacuations ; of which the last may 
occupy the lowest, and the first the highest level, so that 
nothing shall be drained, and as little carried into the first 
two as possible. The piggery should always be built as 
possible to that portion of the establishment from which 
the chief part of the provision is to come, since much 
labor will thus be saved. Washings, and combings, and 
brushings, as has been previously suggested, are valuable 
adjuncts in the treatment of swine; the energies of the skin 
are thus roused, the pores opened, the healthful functions 
aided, and that inertness, so likely to be engendered by 
the lazy life of a fattening pig, counteracted. 

A supply of fresh water is essential to the well-being of 
swine, and should be freely furnished. If a stream can be 
brought through the piggery, it answers better than any- 
thing else. Swine are dirty feeders and dirty drinkers, 
usually plunging their fore feet into the trough or pail, and 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 595 

thus polluting with mud or dirt whatever may be given to 
them. One of the advantages, therefore, to be derived 
from the stream of running water is, its being kept con- 
stantantly clean and wholesome by its running. If this 
advantage cannot be procured, it is desirable to present 
water in vessels of a size to receive but one head at a 
time, and of such height as to render it impossible, or 
difficult, for the drinker to get his feet into it. The water 
should be renewed twice daily. If swine are closely con- 
fined in pens, they should have as much charcoal twice a 
week as they will eat, for the purpose of correcting any 
tendency to disorders of the stomach. Rotten wood is an 
imperfect substitute for charcoal. 



SrSEflSES R¥tB JPiEIR ReMESIES. 



BY reason of being generally considered a subordi- 
nate species of stock, swine do not, in many cases, 
share in the benefits which an improved system of agricul- 
ture and the present advanced state of veterinary science 
have conferred upon other domesticated animals. Since 
they are by no means the most tractable of patients, it is 
anything but an easy matter to compel them to swallow 
anything to which their appetite does not incite them ; and, 
hence; prevention will be found better than cure.* Cleanli- 
ness is the great point to be insisted upon in the manage- 
ment of these animals. If this, and warmth, be only 
attended to, ailments among them are comparatively 
rare. 

As, however, disappointment may occasionally occur, 
even under the best system of management, a brief view of 
the principal complaints with which they are liable to be 
attacked is presented, together with the best mode of 
treatment to be adopted in such cases. 



596 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Catching the Pig. 



Swine are very difficult animals to obtain any mastery 
over, or to operate on, or examine. Seldom tame, or 
easily handled, they are at such periods most unmanage- 
able — kicking, screaming, and even biting fiercely. The 
following method of getting hold of them has been 
recommended: Fasten a double cord to the end of a stick, 
and beneath the stick let there be a running noose in the 
cord ; tie a piece of bread to the cord, and present it to 
the animal ; and when he opens his mouth to seize the 
bait, catch the upper jaw in the noose, run it tight, and the 
animal is fast. 

Another method is, to catch one foot in a running noose 
suspended from some place, so as to draw the imprisoned 
foot off the ground ; or, to envelop the head of the animal 
in a cloth or sack. 

All coercive measures, however, should, as far as 
possible, be avoided ; for the pig is naturally so averse to 
being handled that in his struggles he will often do himself 
far more mischief than the disease which is to be investi- 
gated or remedied would effect. 



Drenching. 

Whenever it is possible, the medicine to be adminis- 
tered should be mingled with a portion of food, and the 
animal thus cheated or coaxed into taking it ; since many 
instances are on record, in which the pig has ruptured 
some vessel in his struggles, and died on the spot, or so 
injured himself as to bring on inflammation and subsequent 
death. 

Where this cannot be done, the following is the best 
method : Let a man get the head of the animal firmly 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. S97 

between his knees — without, however, pinching it — while 
another secures the hinder parts. Then let the first take 
hold of the head from below, raise it a little, and incline it 
slightly toward the right, at the same time separating the 
lips on the left side so as to form a hole into which the 
fluid may be gradually poured — no more being introduced 
into the mouth at a time than can be swallowed at once. 
Should the animal snort or choke, the head must be 
released for a few moments, or he will be in danger of 
being strangled. 

Catarrh. 



This ailment — an inflammation of the mucous mem- 
branes of the nose, etc. — is, if taken in time, easily cured 
by opening medicines, followed up by warm bran-wash — 
a warm, dry sty — and abstinence from rich grains, or 
stimulating, farinaceous diet. The cause, in most cases, 
is exposure to drafts of air, which should be guarded 
against. 

Cholera. 



For what is presented concerning this disease, the 
author is indebted to G. W. Bowler, V. S., of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, whose familiarity with the various diseases of our 
domestic animals, and the best modes of treating them, 
entitles his opinion to great weight. * 

The term " cholera" is employed to designate a disease 
which has been very fatal among swine in different parts of 
the United States ; and for the reason, that its symptoms, 
as well as the indications accompanying its termination, are 
very nearly allied to what is manifested in the disease of 
that name which visits man. 

Epidemic cholera has, for several years past, committed 
fearful ravages among the swine of, particularly, Ohio, 
Indiana, and Kentucky. Indeed, many farmers, who, until 



598 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

recently, have been accustomed to raise large numbers of 
these animals, are, in a great measure, disinclined to invest 
again in such stock, on account of the severe losses — in 
some instances to the extent of the entire drove upon par- 
ticular places. 

Various remedies have, of course, been prescribed; but 
the most have failed in nearly every case where the disease 
has secured a firm foothold. Preventives, are, therefore, 
the most that can, at present, be expected ; and in this 
direction something may be done. Although some pecu- 
liar change in the atmosphere is, probably, an impelling 
cause of cholera, its ravages may be somewhat stayed by 
removing other predisposing associate causes. 

Granting that the hog is a filthy animal and fond of 
rooting among filth, it is by no means necessary to per- 
sist, for that reason, in surrounding him with all the 
nastiness possible ; for even a hog, when penned up in 
a filthy place, in company with a large number of other 
hogs — particularly when that place is improperly venti- 
lated — is not as healthy as when the animals are kept 
together in smaller numbers, in a clean and well-ventilated 
barn or pen. Look, for a moment, at a drove of hogs 
coming along the street, the animals all fat and ready for 
the knife. They have been driven several miles, and are 
scarcely able to crawl along, many of them having to be 
carried on drays, while others have died on the road. At 
last they are driven into a pen, perhaps, several inches 
deep with the manure and filth deposited there by hundreds 
of predecessors ; every hole in the ground has become a 
puddle ; and in such a place, some one hundred or two 
hundred animals are piled together, exhausted from the 
drive which they have had. They lie down in the mud ; 
and in a short time, one can see the steam beginning to 
rise from their bodies in volumes, increasing their already 
prostrate condition by the consequent inhalation of the 
noxious gas thus thrown off from the system ; the blood 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 599 

becomes impregnated with poison ; the various functions of 
the body are thereby impaired ; and disease will inevitably 
be developed, in one form or another. Should the disease 
known as hog cholera prevail in the neighborhood, the 
chances are very greatly in favor of their being attacked 
by it, and, consequently, perishing. 

The symptoms of cholera are as follows : The animal 
appears to be instantaneously deprived of energy ; loss of 
appetite ; lying down by himself; occasionally moving 
about slowly, as though experiencing some slight uneasi- 
ness internally ; the eyes have a very dull and sunken 
appearance, which increases with the disease ; the evacua- 
tions are almost continuous, of a dark color, having a fetid 
odor, and containing a large quantity of bile ; the 
extremities are cold and soreness is evinced when the 
abdomen is pressed; the pulse is quickened, and sometimes 
hardly perceptible, while the buccal membrane — that 
belonging to the cheek — presents a slight purple hue ; the 
tongue has a furred appearance. The evacuations continue 
fluid until the animal expires, which may be in twelve 
hours from the first attack, or the disease may run on for 
several days. 

In a very short time after death, the abdomen becomes 
of a dark purple color, and upon examination, the stomach 
is found to contain but a little fluid ; the intestines are 
almost entirely empty, retaining a slight quantity of 
the dark colored matter before mentioned; the* mucous 
membrane of the alimentary canal exhibits considerable 
inflammation, which sometimes appears only in patches, 
while the other parts are filled with dark venous blood — 
indicating a breaking up of the capillary vessels in such 
places. 

Treatment. — As a preventive, the following will be 
found valuable : Flour of sulphur, six pounds ; animal 
charcoal, one pound ; sulphate of iron, six ounces ; cinchona 
pulverized, one pound. Mix well together in a large 



6dO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

mortar ; afterwards give a tablespoonful to each animal, 
mixed with a few potato-peelings and corn-meal, three 
times a day. Continue this for one week, keeping the 
animal at the same time in a clean, dry place, and not 
allowing too many together. 

Crackings. 



These will sometimes appear on the skin of a hog, 
especially about the root of the ears and of the tail, and at 
the flanks. They are not at all to be confounded with 
mange, as they never result from anything but exposure 
to extremes of temperature while the animal is unable 
to avail himself of such protection as, in a state of nature, 
instinct would have induced him to adopt. They are pecu- 
liarly troublesome in the heat of summer, if he does not 
have access to water, in which to lave his parched limbs 
and half-scorched carcass. 

Anoint the cracked parts twice or three times a day with 
tar and lard, well melted up together. 

Diarrhea. 



Before attempting to stop the discharge in this disease 
— which, if permitted to continue unchecked, will rapidly 
prostrate the animal, and probably terminate fatally — 
ascertain the quality of food which the animal has recently 
had. 

In a majority of instances, this will be found to be the 
cause. If taken in its incipient stage, a mere change to a 
more binding diet, as corn, flour, etc., will suffice for a cure. 
If acidity is present — produced, probably, by the hogs 
having fed upon coarse, rank grasses in swampy places — 
give some chalk in the food, or powdered egg-shells, with 
about half a drachm of powdered rhuBarb ; the dose, of 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 6oi 

course, should vary with the size of the animal. In the 
acorn season, they alone will be found sufficiently curative, 
where facilities for obtaining them exist. Dry lodging is 
indispensable ; and diligence is requisite to keep it dry and 
clean. 

Fever. 



The symptoms of this disease are, redness of the eyes, 
dryness and heat of the nostrils, the lips, and the skin 
generally ; appetite gone, or very defective ; and, generally, 
a very violent thirst. 

Bleed as soon as possible ; after which house the animal 
well, taking care, at the same time, to have the sty well 
and thoroughly ventilated. The bleeding will usually be 
followed, in an hour or two, by such a return of appetite as 
to induce the animal to eat a sufficient quantity of food to 
be made the vehicle for administering external remedies. 
The best is bread, steeped in broth. The hog, however, 
sinks so rapidly when his appetite is near gone, that no 
depletive medicines are, in general, necessary or proper ; 
the fever will ordinarily yield to the bleeding, and the only 
object needs to be the support of his strength, by small 
portions of nourishing food, administered frequently. 

Do not let the animal eat as much as his inclination 
might prompt ; when he appears to be no longer ravenous, 
remove the mess, and do not offer it again until after a 
lapse of three or four hours. If the bowels are confined, 
castor and linseed oil, in equal quantities, should be added 
to the bread and broth, in the proportion of two to six 
ounces. 

A species of fever frequently occurs as an epizootic, 
oftentimes attacking the male pigs, and generally the most 
vigorous and best-looking, without any distinction of age, 
and with a force and rapidity absolutely astonishing. At 
other times, its progress is much slower ; the symptoms 



602 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

are less intense and alarming; and the veterinary surgeon, 
employed at the outset, may meet with some success. 

The causes are, in the majority of instances, the bad 
styes in which the pigs are lodged, and the noisome food 
which they often contain. In addition to these is the con- 
stant lying on the dung-heap, whence is exhaled a vast 
quantity of deleterious gas ; also, the remaining far too 
long on the muddy or parched ground, or too protracted 
exposure to the rigor of the season. 

When an animal is attacked with this disease, he should 
be separated from the others, placed in a warm situation, 
some stimulating ointment applied to the chest, and a 
decoction of sorrel administered. Frictions of vinegar 
should also be applied to the dorsal and lumbar region. 
The drinks should be emollient, slightly imbued with nitre 
and vinegar, and with aromatic fumigation about the belly. 
If the fever then appears to be losing ground, which may 
be ascertained by the regularity of the pulse, by the 
absence of the plaintive cries before heard, by a less labori- 
ous respiration, by the absence of convulsions, and by the 
non-appearance of blotches on the skin, there is a fair 
chance of recovery. Then administer, every second hour, 
as before directed, and give a proper allowance of white 
water, with ground barley and rye. 

When the symptoms redouble in intensity, it is best to 
destroy the animal; for it is rare that, after a certain period, 
much chance of recovery exists. Bleeding is seld^^m of 
much avail, but produces, occasionally, considerable loss of 
vital power, and augments the putrid diathesis. 

Foul Skin. 



A SIMPLE irritability, or foulness of skin, will usually 
yield to cleanliness, and a washing with a solution of chlor- 
ide of lime ; but, if it is neglected for any length of time, 
it assumes a malignant character — scabs and blotches, or 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 603 

red and fiery eruptions appear — and the disease rapidly 
passes into mange, which will be hereafter noticed. 

Inflammation of the Lungs. 



This disease, popularly known as heavings, is scarcely 
to be regarded as curable. Were it observed in its first 
stage, when indicated by loss of appetite and a short, hard 
cough, it might, possibly, be got under by copious bleed- 
ing, and friction with stimulating ointment on the region of 
the lungs; minute and frequent doses of tartar emetic 
should also be given in butter — all food of a stimulating 
nature carefully avoided — and the animal kept dry and 
warm. If once the heavings set in, it may be calculated 
with confidence that the formation of tubercles in the sub- 
stance of the lungs has begun ; and when these are formed, 
they are very rarely absorbed. 

The causes of the disease are damp lodging, foul air, 
want of ventilation, and unwholesome food. When tuber- 
cular formation becomes established, the disease may be 
communicated through the medium of the atmosphere, the 
infectious influence depending upon the noxious particles 
respired from the lungs of the diseased animal. 

The following may be tried, though the knife is proba- 
bly the best resort, if for no other reason, at least to pro- 
vide against the danger of infection : Shave the hair away 
from the chest, and beneath each fore-leg ; wet the part 
with spirits of turpentine, and set fire to it, having previ- 
ously had the animal well secured, with his head well 
raised, and a flannel cloth at hand with which to extin- 
guish the flame after it has burned a sufficient time to pro- 
duce slight blisters ; if carried too far, a sore is formed, 
productive of no good effects, and causing unnecessary 
suffering. Calomel may also be used, with a view to pro- 
mote the absorption of the tubercles ; but the success is 
questionable. 



6o4 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Jaundice. 



The symptoms of this disease are, yellowness of the 
white of the eye ; a similar hue extending to the lips ; and 
sometimes, but not invariably, swelling of the under part 
of the jaw. 

Treatment. — Bleed freely ; diminish the quantity of 
food ; and give an active aperient every second day. Aloes 
are, perhaps, the best, combined with colocynth ; the dose 
will vary with the size of the animal. 

Leprosy. 



This complaint commonly commences with the forma- 
tion of a small tumor in the eye, followed by a general 
prostration of spirits ; the head is held down ; the whole 
frame inclines toward the ground ; universal languor suc- 
ceeds ; the animal refuses food, languishes, and rapidly 
falls away in flesh ; blisters soon make their appearance 
beneath the tongue, then upon the throat, the jaws, the 
head, and the entire body. 

The causes of this disease are want of cleanliness, 
absence of fresh air, want of due attention to ventilation, 
and foul feeding. The obvious treatment, therefore, is, 
first, bleed ; clean out the sty daily ; wash the affected 
animal thoroughly with soap and water, to which soda or 
potash has been added ; supply him with a clean bed ; keep 
him dry and comfortable ; let him have gentle exercise, and 
plenty of fresh air ; limit the quantity of his food, and 
diminish its rankness; give bran with wash, in which add, 
for an average-sized hog — say one of one hundred and 
sixty pounds weight — a tablespoonful of the flour of sulphur, 
with as much nitre as will cover a dime daily. A few 
grains of powdered antimony may also be given with 
effect. 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 605 

Lethargy. 



Symptoms — Torpor; desire to sleep; hanging of the 
head; and, frequently, redness of the eyes. The origin of 
this disease is, apparently, the same as that of indigestion, 
or surfeit, except that, in this instance, it acts upon a hog 
having a natural tendency to a redundancy of blood. 

Treatment. — Bleed copiously ; then administer an emetic. 
A decoction of camomile flowers will be safest ; though a 
sufficient dose of tartar emetic will be far more certain. 
After this, reduce for a few days the amount of the animal's 
food, and administer a small portion of nitre and sulphur 
in each morning's meal. 

Mange. 



This cutaneous affection owes its existence to the pres- 
ence of a minute insect, called acarus scabiei, or mange-fly, 
which burrows beneath the cuticle, and occasions much 
irritation and annoyance in its progress through the 
skin. 

Its symptoms are sufficiently well known, consisting of 
scabs, blotches, and sometimes multitudes of minute pus- 
tules on different parts of the body. If neglected, these 
symptoms become aggravated ; the disease spreads rapidly 
over the entire surface of the skin, and if allowed to pro- 
ceed on its course unchecked, will before long produce 
deep-seated ulcers and malignant sores, until the whole 
carcass of the affected animal becames a mass of corruption. 

The cause is to be looked for in dirt, accompanied by 
hot-feeding. Hogs, however well and properly kept, will 
occasionally become affected with this disease from conta- 
gion. Few diseases are more easily propagated by con- 
tact than mange. The introduction of a single affected 
pig into an establishment may, in one night, cause the 



6o6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

seizure of scores of others. No foul-skinned pigs, there- 
fore, should be introduced into the piggery ; indeed, it 
would be an excellent precaution to wash every animal 
newly purchased with a strong solution of chloride of 
lime. 

Treatment. — If the mange is but of moderate violence, 
and not of very long standing, the best mode is to wash the 
animal, from snout to tail, leaving no portion of the body 
uncleansed, with soft soap and water. Place him in a dry 
and clean sty, which is so situated as to command a con- 
stant supply of fresh air, without, at the same time, an 
exposure to cold or draught; furnish a bed of clean, fresh 
straw. Reduce his food, both in quality and quantity ; let 
boiled or steamed roots, with buttermilk, or dairy-wash 
take the place of any food of a heating or inflammatory 
character. Keep him without food for five or six hours, 
and then give to a hog of average size two ounces of 
Epsom salts in a warm bran mash — to be increased or 
diminished, of course, as the animal's size may require. 
This should be previously mixed with a pint of warm water, 
and added to about half a gallon of warm bran mash, and 
it will act as a gentle purgative. Give in every meal after- 
ward one tablespoonful of flour of sulphur, and as much 
nitre as will cover a dime, for from three days to a week, 
according to the state of the disease. When the scabs 
begin to heal, the pustules to retreat, and the fiery sores to 
fade, a cure may be anticipated. 

When the above treatment has been practiced for four- 
teen days, without effecting a cure, prepare the following: 
train oil, one pint ; oil of tar, two drachms ; spirits of tur- 
pentine, two drachms ; naphtha, one drachm ; with as much 
flour of sulphur as will form the foregoing into a thick 
paste. Rub the animal previously washed with this mix- 
ture ; let no portion of the hide escape. Keep the hog 
dry and warm after this application, and allow it to remain 
on his skin for three days. On the fourth day wash him 



Live stock — swine. 607 

again with soft soap, adding a small quantity of soda to the 
water. Dry him well afterward, and let him remain as he 
is, having again changed his bedding, for a day or so ; 
continue the sulphur and nitre as before. Almost all cases 
of mange, however obstinate, will, sooner or later, yield to 
this treatment. After he is convalescent, whitewash the 
sty, and fumigate it by placing a little chloride of lime in a 
cup, or other vessel, and pouring a little vitriol upon it. In 
the absence of vitriol, boiling water will answer nearly as 
well. 

Murrain. 



This resembles leprosy in its symptoms, with the addi- 
tion of staggering, shortness of breath, and. discharge of 
viscid matter from the eyes and mouth. 

The treatment should consist of cleanliness, coolness, 
bleeding, purging, and limitation of food. Cloves of garlic 
are recommended ; and as in all febrile diseases there 
exists a greater or less disposition to putrefaction, it is 
probable that garlic, from its antiseptic properties, may be 
useful. 



Measles. 



This is one of the most common diseases to which hogs 
are liable. T)\& symptoms are, redness of the eyes, foul- 
ness of the skin, and depression of spirits ; decline, or 
total departure of. the appetite; small pustules about the 
throat, and red and purple eruptions on the skin. The 
last are more plainly visible after death, when they impart 
a peculiar appearance to the grain of the meat, with fading 
of its color, and distention of the fibre, giving an appear- 
ance similar to that which might be produced by punctur- 
ing the flesh. ' . 



6oS trtE PRACtlCAL HOME FARMER. 

Treatment. — Allow the animal to fast, in the first 
instance, for twenty-four hours, and then administer a 
warm drink, containing a drachm of carbonate of soda, 
and an ounce of bole armenian ; wash the animal, cleanse 
the sty, and change the bedding ; give at every feeding, or 
thrice a day, thirty grains of flour of sulphur, and ten of 
nitre. 

This malady is attributable to dirt, combined with the 
giving of steamed food or wash to hogs at too high a tem- 
perature. It is troublesome to eradicate, but usually yields 
to treatment, and is rarely fatal. 

Quinsy. 

This is an inflammatory affection of the glands of the 
throat. 

Treatment. — Shave away the hair, and rub with tartar- 
emetic ointment. Fomenting with very warm water is also 
useful. When external suppuration takes place, it is to 
be regarded as a favorable symptom. In this case, wait 
until the swellings are thoroughly ripe ; then with a sharp 
knife make an incision through the entire length, press out 
the matter, wash with warm water, and afterward dress 
the wound with any resinous ointment, or yellow soap with 
coarse brown sugar. 

Staggers. 



This disease is caused by an excessive determination 
of blood to the head. 

Treatment. — Bleed freely and purge. 

Surfeit. 



This is another name for indigestion. The symptoms 
are panting, loss of appetite, swelling of the region about 



LIVE STOCK — SWINE. 609 

the stomach, etc., and frequently throwing up the contents 
of the stomach. 

Treatment. — In general, this affection will pass away, 
provided only it is allowed to care itself, and all food care- 
fully kept from the animal for a few hours ; a small quantity 
of sweet grains, with a little bran mash, may then be given, 
but not nearly as much as the animal would wish to take. 
For a few days the food should be limited in quantity, and 
of a washy, liquid nature. The ordinary food may then be 
resumed, only observing to feed regularly, and remove the 
fragments remaining after each meal. 

Swelling of the Spleen. 



The symptom most positively indicative of this disease 
is the circumstance of the affected animal leaning toward 
one side, cringing, as it were, from internal pain, and 
bending toward the ground. 

The cause of the obstrtuction on which the disease 
depends, is over-feeding — permitting the animal to indulge 
its appetite to the utmost extent that gluttony may prompt, 
and the capacity of its stomach admits. A very short 
perseverance in this mode of management — or, rather, 
mismanagement — will produce this, as well as other mala- 
dies, deriving their. origin from a depraved condition of 
the secretions and the obstruction of the excretory ducts. 

Treatment. — Clean out the alimentary canal by means 
of a powerful aperient. Allow the animal to fast for four 
or five hours, when he will take a little sweet wash or 
broth, in which maybe mingled a dose of Epsom salts^pro- 
portioned to its size. This will generally effect the desired 
end — a copious evacuation — and the action of the medi- 
cine on the watery secretions will also relieve the existing 
diseased condition of the spleen. 

If the affection has continued for any length of time, 



6lO THE PkACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the animal should be bled. A decoction of the leaves and 
tops of wormwood and liverwort, produced by boiling them 
in soft water for six hours, may be given in doses of from 
half a pint to a pint and a half according to the size, age, 
etc., of the animal. Scammony and rhubarb, mixed in a 
bran-wash, or with Indian meal, may be given with advan- 
tage on the following day ; or equal portions of blue-pill 
mass and -compound colocynth pill, formed into a bolus with 
butter. The animal having been kept fasting the previous 
night, will probably swallow it; if not, let his fast continue 
a couple of hours longer. Lower his diet, and keep him 
on reduced fare, with exercise, and, if it can be managed, 
grazing, until the malady has passed away. If he is then 
to be fattened, it should be done gradually ; be cautious of 
at once restoring him to full diet. 

Tumors. 



These are hard swellings, which make their appear- 
ance on different parts of the body. They are not formid- 
able, and require only to be suffered to progress until they 
soften ; then make a free incision, and press out the matter. 
Sulphur and nitre should be given in the food, as the ap- 
pearance of these swellings, whatever be the cause, indi- 
cates the necessity of alterative medicines. 



PeUCTRY. 



The Bolton Gray. 



These towls — called, also, Dutch Every-day Layers, 
Pencilled Dutch Fowl, Chittaprats, and, in Pennsylvania, 
Creole Fowl — were originally imported from Holland to 
Bolton, a town in Lancashire, England, whence they were 
named. 




BOLTON GRAYS OK CREOLlf FOWL. 



^^. 



•^'^ 



They are small sized, short in the leg, and plump in 
the make; color of the genuine kind, invariably pure white 
in the whole cappel of the neck; the body white, thickly 
spotted with black, sometimes running into a grizzle, with 
one or more black bars at the extremity of the tail. A 
good cock of this breed may weigh from four to four and 
a half pounds ; and a hen from three to three and a half 
pounds. 



6i2 The practical home farmer. 

The superiority of a hen of this breed does not consist 
so much in a rapid as in continued laying. She may not 
produce as many eggs in a month as some other kinds, 
but she will, it is claimed, lay more months in the year than 
probably any other variety. They are said to be very 
hardy ; but their eggs, in the judgment of some, are rather 
watery and innutritions. 



The CMttagong. 



The Chittagong is a very superior bird, showy in 
plumage, exceedingly hard, and of ^various colors. In 
some, the gray predominates, interspersed with lightish 
yellow and white feathers upon the pullets. The legs are 
of a reddish flesh-color; the meat is delicately white, the 
the comb is large and single, wattles very full, wings good 
size. The leg-s are more or less feathered ; the model is 
graceful, carriage proud and easy, and action prompt and 
determined. 

This breed is the largest in the world, the pullets 
usually weighing from eight to nine pounds when they 
begin to lay, and the cocks from nine to ten pounds at the 
same age. They do not lay as many eggs in a year as 
smaller hens ; but they lay as many pounds of eggs as the 
best breeds. This breed has been, by some, confounded 
with the great Malay ; but the points of difference are 
very noticeable. There is less offal, the flesh is finer, 
although the size is greatly increased, their fecundity is 
greater, and the offspring arrive earlier at maturity than 
in the common Malay variety. 

There is also a red variety of the Chittagong, which is 
rather smaller than the gray. These have legs sometimes 
yellow and sometimes blue ; the latter color, perhaps, from 
some mixture with the dark variety ; the wings and tail are 
short. Sometimes there is a rose-colored comb, and a top- 



POULTRY. 613 

knot, through crossing. This variety may weigh sixteen 
or eighteen pounds a pair, as ordinarily bred. The eggs 
are large and rich, but not very abundant, and they do not 
hatch remarkably well. 

There is, besides, a dark-red w3.nG.ty ; the hens yellow 
or brown, with single serrated comb, and no top-knot ; legs 
heavily feathered, the feathers black and the legs yellow. 
The cock is black on the breast and thighs. 

The Chittagongs are generally quite leggy, standing 
some twenty-six inches high ; and the hens twenty-two 
inches. A first cross with the Shanghae makes a very 
large and valuable bird for the table, but not for breeding 
purposes. 

The Blue Dun. 



The variety known under this name originated in Dor- 
setshire, England. They are under the average size, 
rather slenderly made, of a soft and pleasing bluish-dun 
color, the neck being darker, with high, single combs, 
deeply serrated. The cock is of the same color as the 
hen, but has, in addition, some handsome dark stripes in 
the long feathers of the tail, and sometimes a few golden, 
or even scarlet marks, on the wings. They are exceed- 
ingly impudent, familiar, and pugnacious. 

The hens are good layers, wanting to sit after laying a 
moderate number of eggs, and proving attentive and care- 
ful reaerrs of their own chickens, but rather savage to those 
of other hens. The eggs are small and short, tapering 
slightly at one end, and perfectly white. The chickens, on 
first coming from the ^gg, sometimes bear a resemblance 
to the gray and yellow catkin of the willow, being of a soft 
bluish gray, mixed with a little yellow here and there. 

Some class these birds among the game fowls, not 
recognizing them as a distinct race, upon the ground that, 
as there are Blue Dun families belonging to several breeds 



6i4 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



— the Spanish, the Polish, the Game, and the Hamburghs, 
for example' — it is more correct to refer each Blue Dun to 
its own proper ancestry. 



The Cochin China. 



The Cochin China fowl are said to have been presented 
to Queen Victoria from the East Indies. In order to pro- 
mote their propagation, her majesty made presents of them 




COCHIN CHINAS. 



occasionally to such persons as she supposed likely to 
appreciate them. They differ very little in their qualities, 
habits, and general appearance from the Shanghaes, to 
which they are undoubtedly, nearly related. The egg is 
nearly the same size, shape, and color ; both have an equal 
development of comb and wattles — the Cochins slightly 
differing from the Shanghaes, chiefly in being somewhat 
fuller and deeper in the breast, not quite so deep in the 
quarter, and being usually smooth-legged, while the Shang- 



POULTRY. 6lS 

haes, generally, are more or less heavily feathered. The 
plumage is much the same in both cases ; and the crow in 
both is equally sonorous and prolonged, differing con- 
siderably from that of the Great Malay. 

The cock has a large, upright, single, deeply-indented 
comb, very much resembling that of the Black Spanish, 
and, when in high condition, of quite as brilliant a scarlet ; 
like him, also, he has sometimes a very large white ear- 
hole on each cheek, which, if not an indispensable or even 
a required qualification, is, however, to be preferred, for 
beauty at least. The wattles are large, wide, and pendent. 
TJie legs are of a pale flesh-color ; some specimens have 
them yellow, which is objectionable. The feathers on the 
breast and sides are of a bright chestnut-brown, large and 
well-defined, giving a scaly or imbricated appearance 
to those parts. The hackle of the neck is of a light 
yellowish brown ; the lower feathers being tipped with 
dark brown, so as to give a spotted appearance to the 
neck. The tail-feathers are black, and darkly iridescent ; 
back, scarlet orange ; back-hackle, yellow-orange. It is, 
in short, altogether a flame-colored bird. Both sexes are 
lower in the leg than either the Black Spanish or the 
Malay. 

The hen approaches in her build more nearly to the 
Dorking than to any other breed, except that the tail is 
very small and proportionately depressed ; it is smaller and 
more horizontal than in any other fowl. Her comb Is of 
moderate size, almost small; she has, also, a small, white 
ear-hole. Her coloring is flat, being composed of various 
shades of very light brown with light yellow on the neck. 
Her appearance is quiet, and only attracts attention by its 
extreme neatness, cleanliness and compactness. 

The eggs average about two ounces each. They are 
smooth, of an oval shape, equally rounded at each end, 
and of a rich buff color, nearly resembling those of the 
Silver Pheasant. The newly-hatched chickens appear 



6l6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

very large in proportion to the size of the egg. They 
have light, flesh-colored bills, feet and legs, and are 
thickly covered with down, of the hue commonly called 
"carroty." They are not less thrifty than any other 
chickens, and feather somewhat more uniformly than either 
the Black Spanish or the Malay. It is, however, most 
desirable to hatch these — as well as other large-growing 
varieties — as early in the spring as possible ; even so soon 
as the end of February. A peculiarity in the cockerels is, 
that they do not show even the rudiments of their tail- 
feathers till they are nearly full-grown. They increase so 
rapidly in other directions, that there is no material to 
spare for the production of these decorative appendages. 

The merits of this breed are such that it may safely be 
recommended to people residing in the country. For the 
inhabitants of towns it is less desirable; as the light tone 
of its plumage would show every mark of dirt and defile- 
ment; and the readiness with which they sit would be an 
inconvenience, rather than otherwise, in families with whom 
perpetual layers are most in requisition. Expense apart, 
they are equal or superior to any other fowl for the table ; 
their flesh is delicate, white, tender and well flavored. 



The Dominique. 



This seems to be a tolerably distinct and permanent 
variety, about the size of the common dunghill fowl. 
Their combs are generally double — or rose, as it is some- 
times called — and the wattles small. Their plumage pre- 
sents, all over, a sort of greenish appearance, from a 
peculiar arrangement of blue and white feathers, which is 
the chief characteristic of the variety; although, in some 
specimens, the plumage is inevitably gray in both cock and 
hen. They are .very hardy, healthy, excellent layers, and 



POULTRY. 



617 



capital incubators. No fowl have better stood the tests of 
mixing without deteriorating than the pure Dominique. 

Their name is taken from the island of Dominica, from 
which they are reported to have been imported. Take all 
in all, they are one of the very best breeds of fowl which 
we have ; and although they do not come into laying 
so young as the Spanish, they are far better sitters and 
nursers. 




WHITIi UORKINGS. 



The Dorking. 



This has been termed the Capon Fowl of England. It 
forms the chief supply for the London market, and is dis- 
tinguished by a white or flesh-colored smooth leg, armed 
with five, instead of four toes, on each foot. Its flesh is 
extremely delicate, especially after caponization ; and it has 
the advantage over some other fowls of feeding rapidly, 
and growing to a very respectable size when properly 
managed. 

For those who wish to stock their poultry yards with 
fowls of the most desirable shape a'nd size, clothed in rich 
and varigated plumage, and, not expecting perfection, are 
willing to overlook one or two other points, the Speckled 
Dorkings — so called from the town of Surrey, England, 



6l8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

which brought them into modern repute — should be 
selected. The hens, in addition to their gay colors, have a 
large, vertically flat comb, which, when they are in high 
health, adds very much to their brilliant appearance, par- 
ticularly if seen in bright sunshine. The cocks are magnifi- 
cent. The most gorgeous hues are lavished upon them, 
which their great size and peculiarly square-built form dis- 
play to the greatest advantage. Their legs are short; 
their breast broad ; there is but a small proportion of offal ; 
and the good, profitable flesh is abundant. The cocks may 
be brought to considerable weight, and the flavor and 
appearance of their meat are inferior to none. The eggs 
are produced in reasonable abundance ; and, though not 
equal in size to those of Spanish hens, may fairly be called 
large. 

They are not everlasting layers, but at due or conven- 
ient intervals manifest the desire of sitting. In this respect, 
they are steady and good mothers when the little ones 
appear. They are better adapted than any other fowl, 
except the Malay, to hatch superabundant turkeys' eggs ; 
as their size and bulk enable them to afford warmth and 
shelter to the young for a long period. For the same 
reason, spare goose eggs may be entrusted to them. 

With all these merits, however, they are not found to 
be a profitable breed, if kept thorough-bred and unmixed. 
Their powers seem to fail at an early age. They are also 
apt to pine away and die just at the point of reaching 
maturity. They appear at a certain epoch to be seized 
with consumption — ^in the Speckled Dorkings the lungs 
seeming to be the seat of the disease. The White Dork- 
ings are, however, hardy and active birds, and are not 
subject to consumption or any other disease. 

As mothers, an objection to the Dorking is, that they 
are too heavy and clumsy to rear the chickens of any smaller 
and more delicate bird than themselves. Pheasants, 
partridges, bantams, and Guinea fowl are trampled under 



POULTRY. 619 

foot and crushed, if in the least weakly. The hen, in her 
affectionate industry in scratching for grub, kicks her 
smallest nurslings right and left, and leaves them sprawling 
on their backs ; and before they are a month old, half of 
them will be muddled to death with this rough kindness. 

In spite of these drawbacks, the Dorkings are still in 
high favor ; but a cross is found to be more profitable than 
the true breed. A glossy, energetic game-cock, with 
Dorking hens, produces chickens in size and beauty little 
inferior to their maternal parentage, and much more robust. 
The supernumerary toe on each foot almost always disap- 
pears with the first cross ; but it is a point which can very 
well be spared without much disadvantage. In other 
respects, the appearance of the newly-hatched chickens is 
scarcely altered. The eggs of the Dorkings are large, 
pure white, very much rounded, and nearly equal in size 
at each end. The chickens are brownish-yellow, with a 
broad brown stripe down the middle of the back, and a 
narrower one on each side ; feet and legs yellow. 

The Fawn-Colored Dorking. — The fowl bearing this 
name is a cross between the white Dorking and the fawn- 
colored Turkish fowl. They are of lofty carriage, hand' 
some, and healthy. The males of this breed weigh from 
eight to nine pounds and the females from six to seven; 
and they come to maturity early for so large a fowl. Their 
tails are shorter and their eggs darker than those of other 
Dorkings ; their flesh is fine and their eggs rich. It is one 
of the best varieties of fowl known, as the size is readily 
increased without diminishing the fineness of the flesh. 

The Black Dorking. — The bodies of this variety are 
of a large size, with the usual proportions of the race, and 
of a jet-black color. The neck-feathers of some of the 
cocks are tinged with a bright gold color, and those of 
some of the hens bear a silvery complexion. Their combs 
are usually double, and very short, though sometimes 
cupped, rose, or single, with wattles small ; and they are 



620 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

usually very red about the head. Their tails are rather 
shorter and broader than most of the race, and they feather 
rather slowly. Their legs are short and black, with five 
toes on each foot, the bottom of which is sometimes yellow. 
The two back toes are very distinct, starting from the foot 
separately ; and there is frequently a part of an extra toe 
between the two. 

This breed commence laying when very young, and are 
very thrifty layers during winter. Their eggs are of a 
large size, and hatch well ; they are perfectly hardy, as 
their color indicates, and for the product are considered 
among the most valuable of the Dorking breed. 

The Dunghill Fowl. 



This is sometimes called the Barn-door fowl, and is 
characterized by a thin, serrated, upright comb, and wattles 
hanging from each side of the lower mandible ; the tail 
rises in an arch, above the level of the rump ; the feathers 
of the rump are long and line-like, and the color is finely 
variegated. The female's comb and wattles are smaller 
than those of the cock ; she is less in size, and her colors 
are more dull and somber. 

In the best specimens of this variety, the legs should 
be white and smooth, like those of the Dorking, and their 
bodies round and plump. Being mongrels, they breed all 
colors, and are usually from five to seven or eight pounds 
per pair. 

The Frizzled Fowl. 



This fowl is erroneously supposed to be a native of 
Japan, and, by an equally common error, is frequently 
called the " Friesland,' under the apprehension that it is 
derived from that place. Its name, however, originates 
from its peculiar appearance. It is difficult to say whether 



Poultry. 621 

this is an aboriginal variety, or merely a peculiar instance 
of the morphology of feathers; the circumstance that there 
are also frizzled Bantams, would seem to make in favor of 
the latter position. 

The feathers are ruffled or frizzled, and the reversion 
makes them peculiarly susceptible of cold and wet, since 
their plumage is of little use as clothing. They have thus 
the demerit of being tender as well as ugly. In good speci- 
mens, every feather looks as if it had been curled the 
wrong way with a pair of hot curling-irons. The plumage 
is variegated in its colors ; and there are two varieties, 
called the Black and White Frizzled. The stock, which is 
rather curious than valuable, is retained in this country 
more by importation than by rearing. 

Some writers say that this variety is a native of Asia, 
and that it exists in a domestic state throughout Java, 
Sumatra, and all the Philippine Islands, where it succeeds 
well. It is, according to such, uncertain in what country it 
is still found wild. 

The Sijangled Hamburgh. 



The Spangled Hamburgh fowl are divided into two 
varieties, the distinctive characteristics being slight, and 
almost dependent upon color; these varieties are termed 
the Golden and Silver-Spangled. 

The Golden- Spangled is one of no ordinary beauty ; it 
is well and very neatly made, has a good body, and no very 
great offal. On the crest, immediately above the beak, are 
two small, fleshy horns, resembling, to some extent, an 
abortive comb. Above this crest, and occupying the place 
of a comb, is a very large brown or yellow tuft, the feath- 
ers composing it darkening toward their extremities. 
Under the insertion of the lower mandible — or that portion 
of the neck corresponding to the chin in man — is a full, 
dark-colored tuft, somewhat resembling a beard. The 



62i The practical home farmer. 

wattles are very small ; the comb, as in other higii-crested 
fowls, is very diminutive ; and the skin and flesh white. 
The hackles on the neck are of a brilliant orange, or golden 
yellow, and the general ground-color of the body is of the 
same hue, but somewhat darker. The thighs are of a 
dark-brown, or blackish shade, and the legs and feet are 
of a bluish gray. 

In the Silvcr-Spaiiglcd variety, the only perceptible 
difference is, that the ground color is a silvery white. 




HAMBURGH FOWLS. 



The extremity and a portion of the extreme margin of each 
feather are black, presenting, when in a state of rest, the 
appearance of regular semi-circular marks, or spangles — 
and hence the name, " Spangled Hamburgh " ; the varieties 
being termed gold or silver, according to the prevailing 
color being bright yellow, or silvery white. 

The eggs are of moderate size, but abundant ; chickens 
easily reared. In mere excellence of flesh and as layers, 
they are inferior to the Dorking or the Spanish. They 
weigh from four and a half to five and a half pounds for 
the male, and three and a half for the female. The former 
stands some twenty inches in height, and the latter about 
eighteen inches. 



POULTRY. 623 



The Plymouth Rock. 



Tins name has been given to a very good breed of 
fowls, produced by crossing a China cock with a hen, a 
cross between the Fawn-colored Dorking, the Great Malay 
and the Wild Indian. 

At a little over a year old the cocks stand from thirty- 
two to thirty-five inches high, and weigh about ten pounds; 
and the pullets from six and a half to seven pounds each. 
The latter commence laying when five months old, and 
prove themselves very superior layers. Their eggs are of 
a medium size, rich, and reddish-yellow in color. Their 
plumage is rich and variegated ; the cocks usually red or 
speckled, and the pullets darkish brown. They have very 
fine flesh, and are fit for the table at an early age. The 
legs are very large, and usually blue or green, but occa- 
sionally yellow or white, generally having five toes upon 
each foot. Some have their legs feathered, but this is not 
usual. They have large and single combs and wattles, 
large cheeks, rather short tails, and small wings in propor- 
tion to their bodies. 

They are domestic, and not so destructive to gardens 
as smaller fowls. There is the same uniformity in size and 
general appearance, at the same age of the chickens, as in 
those of the pure bloods of primary races. 

The;,Poland. 



The Poland, or Polish fowl, is quite unknown in the 
country which would seem to have suggested the name, 
which originated from some fancied resemblance between 
its tufted crest and the square-spreading crown of the 
feathered caps worn by the Polish soldiers. 

The breed of crested fowls is much esteemed by the 
curious, and is bred with great care. Those desirous of 



^24 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

propagating any singular varieties separate and confine 
the individuals, and do not suffer them to mingle with such 
as have the colors different. The varieties are more 
esteemed in proportion to the variety of the colors, or the 
contrast of the tuft with the rest of the plumage. Although 
the differences of plumage are thus preserved pretty con- 
stant, they seem to owe their origin to the same breed, and 
cannot be reproduced pure without careful superintend- 
ence. The cocks are much esteemed in Egypt, in conse- 
quence of the excellence of their flesh, and are so common 







I'OLAND EOWLS. 



that they are sold at a remarkably cheap rate. They are 
equally abundant at the Cape of Good Hope, where their 
legs are feathered. 

The Polish are chiefly suited for keeping in a small 
way, and in a clean and grassy place. They are certainly 
not so fit for the farm-yard, as they become blinded and 
miserable with dirt. Care should be exercised to procure 
them genuine, since there is n'o breed of fowls more dis- 
figured by mongrelism than this. They will, without any 
cross-breeding, occasionally produce white stock that are 
very pretty, and equally good for laying. If, however, an 
attempt is made to establish a separate breed of them, 



J>OtJLtRY. 62S 

they become puny and weak. It is, therefore, better for 
those who wish for them to depend upon chance ; every 
brood almost of the black produces one white chicken, as 
strong- and lively as the rest. 

These fowls are excellent for the table, the flesh being 
white, tender, and juicy ; but they are quite unsuitable for 
being reared in any numbers, or for general purposes, 
since they are so capricious in their growth, frequently 
remaining stationary in this respect for a whole month, 
getting no larger ; and this, too, when they are about a 
quarter or half grown — the time of their life when they 
are most liable to disease. As aviary birds, they are unri- 
valed among fowls. Their plumage often requires a close 
inspection to appreciate its elaborate beauty ; the confine- 
ment and fretting- seem not unconorenial to their health ; 
and their plumage improves in attractiveness with almost 
every month. 

The great merit, however, of all the Polish fowls is, 
that for three or four years they continue to grow and gain 
in size, hardiness, and beauty — the male birds especially. 
This fact certainly points out a very wide deviation in con- 
stitution from those fowls which attain their full stature and 
perfect plumage in twelve or fifteen months. The simi- 
larity of coloring in the two sexes — almost a specific 
distinction of Polish and perhaps Spanish fowls — also 
separates them from those breeds, like the Game, in which 
the cocks and hens are remarkably dissimilar. Their edi- 
ble qualities are as superior, compared with other fowls, as 
their outward apparel surpasses in elegance. They have 
also the reputation of being everlasting layers, which fur- 
ther fits them for keeping in small enclosures ; but, in this 
respect, individual exceptions are often encountered — as 
in the case of the Hamburghs — however truly the habit 
may be ascribed to the race. 

There are four known varieties of the Polish fowl, &ne 
of which appears to be lost to this country. 



626 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The Black Polish. — This variety is of a uniform black 
— both cock and hen — glossed with metallic grreen. The 
head is ornamented with a handsome crest of white 
feathers, springing from a fleshy protuberance, and fronted 
more or less deeply with black. The comb is merely two 
or three spikes, and the wattles are rather small. Both 
male and female are the same in color, except that the 
former has frequently narrow strips of white in the waving 
feathers of the tail, a sign, it is said, of true breeding. The 
hens, also, have two or three feathers on each side of the 







GRAY GAME FOWLS. 



tail, tinged in tne tip with white. They do not lay quite 
so early in the spring as some varieties, especially after a 
hard winter ; but they are exceedingly good layers, con- 
tinuing a long time without wanting to sit, and laying 
rather large, very white, sub-ovate eggs. They will, how- 
ever, sit at length, and prove of very diverse dispositions; 
some being excellent sitters and nurses, others heedless and 
spiteful. 

The chickens, when first hatched, are dull black, with 
white breasts, and white down on the front of the head. 
They do not always grow and get out of harm's way so 
quickly as some other sorts, but are not particularly tender. 



POULTRY. 627 

In rearing a brood of these fowls, some of the hens may 
be observed with crests round and symmetrical as a ball, 
and others in which the feathers turn all ways, and fall 
loosely over the eyes ; and in the cocks, also, some have 
the crest falling gracefully over the back of the head, and 
others have the feathers turning about and standing on 
end. These should be rejected, the chief beauty of the 
kind depending upon such little particulars. One hen of 
this variety laid just a hundred eggs, many of them on 
consecutive days, before wanting to incubate ; and after 
rearing a brood successfully, she laid twenty-five eggs 
before moulting in autumn. 

The Golden Poland. — These are sometimes called 
Gold-spangled, as their plumage approaches to that of the 
Gold-spangled Hamburghs ; but many of the finest speci- 
mens have the feathers merely fringed with a darker color, 
and the cocks, more frequently than the hens, exhibit a 
spotted or spangled appearance. Many of them are dis- 
figured by a muff or beard ; as to which the question has 
been raised whether it is an original appendage to these 
birds or not. A distinct race, of which the muff is one per- 
manent characteristic, is not at present known. This 
appendage, whenever introduced into the poultry-yard, is 
not easily got rid of; which has caused some to suspect 
either that the original Polish were beardless, or that there 
were two ancient races. 

The Golden Polands, when well bred, are exceedingly 
handsome ; the cock has golden hackles, and gold and 
brown feathers on the back ; breast and wings richly 
spotted with ochre and dark brown ; tail darker ; large 
golden and brown crest, falling back over the neck ; but 
little comb and wattles. The hen is richly laced with 
dark-brown or black on an ochre ground ; dark-spotted 
crest ; legs light-blue, very cleanly made, and displaying a 
small web between the toes, almost as proportionately 
large as that in some of the waders. 



628 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

They are good layers, and produce fair-sized eggs. 
Many of them make excellent mothers, although they 
cannot be induced to sit early in the season. The chickens 
are rather clumsy-looking little creatures, of a dingy- 
brown, with some dashes of ochre about the head, breast 
and wings. They are sometimes inclined to disease in the 
first week of their existence; but, if they pass this suc- 
cessfully, they become tolerably hardy, though liable to 
come to a pause when about half-grown. It may be noted 
as a peculiarity in the temper of this breed, that, if one is 
caught, or attacked by any animal, the rest, whether cocks 
or hens, will instantly make a furious attack upon the 
aggresors, and endeavor to effect the rescue of their 
companion. 

The Silver Polands. — These are similar to the 
preceding in shape and markings, except that white, 
black, and gray are exchanged for ochre or yellow, and 
various shades of brown. They are even more delicate in 
their constitution, more liable to remain stationary at a 
certain point of their adolescene, and, still more than the 
other varieties, require and will repay extra care and 
accommodation. Their top-knots are, perhaps, not so 
large, as a general thing ; but they retain the same neat 
bluish legs and slightly-web bed feet. Thehens are much 
more ornamental than the cocks ; though the latter are 
sure to attract notice. They may, unquestionably, be 
ranked among the choicest of fowls, whether their beauty 
or their rarity is considered. They lay, in tolerable 
abundance, eggs of moderate size, French-white, much 
pointed at one end ; and when they sit, acquit themselves 
respectably. 

The newly-hatched chickens are very pretty ; gray, 
with black eyes, light lead-colored legs, and a swelling of 
down on the crown of the head, indicative of the future 
top-knot, which is exactly the color of a powdered wig, 
and, indeed, gives the chicken the appearance of wearing 



POULTRY. 629 

one. There is no difficulty in rearing them for the first 
six weeks or two months; the critical time being the 
interval between that age and their reaching the fifth or 
sixth month. They acquire their peculiar distinctive 
features at a very early age, and are then the most elegant 
little miniature fowls which can possibly be imagined. 
The distinction of sex is not very manifest till they are 
nearly full-grown ; the first observable indication being in 
the tail. That of the pullet is carried uprightly, as it 
ought to be ; but in the cockerel, it remains depressed, 
awaiting the growth of the sickle-feathers. The top-knot 
of the cockerel inclines to hang more backward than that 
of the pullets. It is remarkable that the Golden Polish 
cock produces as true Silver chickens, and those stronger, 
with the Silver Polish hen, as the Silver Polish cock 
would bring. 

The Silver Polands have all the habits of their golden 
companions, the main difference being the silvery ground 
instead of the golden. This variety will sometimes make 
its appearance even if merely its Golden kind is bred, pre- 
cisely as the Black Polish now and then produce some 
pure White chickens that make very elegant birds. 



The Shanghae. 



For all the purposes of a really good fowl — for beauty 
of model, good size, and laying qualities — the thorough- 
bred Shanghae is among the best, and generally the most 
profitable of domestic birds. The cock, when full-grown, 
stands about twenty-eight inches high, if he is a good 
specimen ; the female, about twenty-two or twenty-three 
inches. A large comb or heavy wattles are rarely seen on 
the hen at any age ; but the comb of the male is high, 
deeply indented, and his wattles double and larfie. The 
comb and wattles are not, however, to be regarded as the 



630 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

chief characteristics of this variety, nor even its reddish- 
yellow feathered leg ; but the abundant, soft, and downy 
covering of the thighs, hips, and region of the vent, 
together with the remarkable short tail, and large mound 
of feathers piled over the upper part of its root, giving 
rise to considerable elevation on that part of the rump. It 
should be ramarked, also, that the wings are quite short 
and small in proportion to the size of the fowl, and carried 




WHITE SHANGHAES. 



very high up the body, thus exposing the whole of the 
thighs, and a considerable portion of the side. 

These characteristics are not found, in the same degree, 
in any other fowl. The peculiar arrangement of feathers 
gives the Shanghae in appearance, what it has in reality 
■ — a greater depth of quarter, in proportion to the brisket, 
than any other fowl. 

As to the legs, they are not very peculiar. The cotor 
is usually reddish -white, or flesh color, or reddish-yellow, 
mostly covered down the outside, even to the end of the 



POULTRY. 631 

toes, with feathers. This last, however, is not always the 
case. The plumage of the thorough-bred is remarkably 
soft and silky, or rather downy ; and is, in the opinion of 
many, equally as good for domestic purposes as that of the 
goose. The feathers are certainly quite as fine and soft, if 
not as abundant. 

In laying qualities, the pure Shanghae equals, if it does 
not excel, any other fowl. The Black Poland, or the Bolton 
Gray, may, perhaps, lay a few more eggs in the course ofi 
a year, in consequence of not so frequently inclining to sit ; 
but their eggs are not so rich and nutritious. A pullet of 
this breed laid one hundred and twenty eggs in one hun- 



SHANGHAES. 



dred and twenty-five days, then stopped six days, then laid 
sixteen eggs more, stopped four days, and again continued 
her laying. The eggs are generally of a pale yellow, or 
nankeen color, not remarkably large, compared with the 
size of the fowl, and generally blunt at the ends.' The 
comb is commonly single, though, in some specimens, there 
is a slight tendency to rose. 

The flesh of this fowl is tender, juicy, and unexception- 
able in every respect. Taking into consideration the goodly 
size of the Shanghae — weighing, as the males do, at 
maturity, from ten to twelve pounds, and the females from 
seven and a half to eight and a half, and the males and 
females of six months eight and six pounds respectively — 
the economical uses to which its soft, downy feathers may 



632 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

be applied, its productiveness, hardiness, and its quiet and 
docile temper, this variety must occupy, and deservedly so, 
a high rank among our domestic fowls ; and the more it is 
known, the better will it be appreciated. 

The White Shanghae. — This variety is entirely white, 
with the legs usually feathered, and differ in no material 
respect from the red, yellow, and Dominique, except in 
color. The legs are yellowish, or reddish-yellow, and some- 
times of flesh color. Many prefer them to all others. The 



SPANISH FOWLS. 



eggs are of a nankeen, or dull yellow color, and blunt at 
both ends. 

It is claimed by the friends of this variety that they are 
larger and more quiet than other varieties, that their flesh 
is much superior, their eggs larger, and the hens more 
profitable. Being more quiet in their habits, and less 
inclined to ramble, the hens are invaluable as incubators 
and nurses ; and the mildness of their disposition makes 
them excellent foster-mothers, as they never injure the 
chickens belonging to other hens. 

These fowls will rank among the largest coming from 
China, and are very thrifty in our climate. A cock of this 



POULTRY. 633 

variety attained a weight of eight pounds, at about the age 
of eight months, and the pullets of the same brood were 
proportionably large. They are broad on the back and 
breast, with a body well rounded up; the plumage white, 
with a downy softness — in the latter respect much like the 
feathering of the Bremen goose ; the tail-feathers short 
and full ; the head small, surmounted by a small, single, 
serrated comb; wattles long and wide, overlaying the 
cheek-piece, which is also large, and extends back on the 
neck ; and the legs of a yellow hue, approaching a flesh- 
color, and feathered to the ends of the toes. 



The Spanish. 



This name is said to be a misnomer, as the breed in 
question was originally brought by the Spaniards from the 
West Indies ; and, although subsequently propagated in 
Spain, it has for some time been very difficult to procure 
good specimens from that country. From Spain, they were 
taken in considerable numbers into Holland, where they 
have been carefully bred, for many years ; and it is from 
that quarter that our best fowls of this variety come. 

The Spanish is a noble race of fowls, possessing many 
merits ; of spirited and animated appearance ; of consider- 
able size ; excellent for the table, both in whiteness of flesh 
and skin, and also in flavor ; and laying exceedingly large 
eggs in considerable numbers. Among birds of its own 
breed it is not deficient in courage ; though it yields, with- 
out showing much fight, to those which have a dash of 
game blood in their veins. It is a general favorite in all 
large cities, for the additional advantage that no soil of 
smoke or dirt is apparent on its plumage. 

The thorough-bred birds should be entirely black, as 
far as feathers are concerned ; and when in high condition, 
display a greenish, metallic lustre. The combs of both 



634 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

cock and hen are exceedingly larg^e, of a vivid and most 
brilliant scarlet ; that of the hen droops over upon one side. 
Their most singular feature is a large white patch, or ear- 
hole, on the cheek — in some specimens extending over a 
great part of the face — of a fleshy substance, similar to 
the wattle; it is small in the female, but large and very 
conspicuous in the male. This marked contrast of black, 
bright red, and white, makes the breed of the Spanish 
cock as handsome as that of any variety which we have; 
in the genuine breed, the whole form is equally good. 

Spanish hens are celebrated as good layers, and pro- 
duce very large, quite white eggs, of a peculiar shape, 
being very thick at both ends, and yet tapering off a little 
at each. They are, by no means, good mothers of families, 
even when they do sit — which they will not often conde- 
scend to do — proving very careless, and frequently tramp- 
ling half their brood under foot. The inconveniences of 
this habit are, however, easily obviated by causing the eggs 
to be hatched by some more motherly hen. 

This variety of fowl has frequently been known to lose 
nearly all the feathers in its body, besides the usual quan- 
tity on the neck, wings, and tail ; and, if they moult late, 
and the weather is severe, they feel it much. This must 
often happen in the case of an " everlasting layer " ; for, if 
the system of a bird is exhausted by the unremitting pro- 
duction of eggs, it cannot contain within itself the material 
for supplying the growth of feathers. They have not, even 
yet, become acclimated in this country, since continued 
frost at any time is productive of much injury to their 
combs; frequently causing mortification in the end, which 
at times terminates in death. A warm poultry-house, high 
feeding, and care that they do not remain too long exposed 
to severe weather, are the best means of preventing this 
disfigurement. Some birds are occasionally produced, 
handsomely streaked with red on the hackle and back. 
This is no proof of bad breeding, if other points are 
right. 



POULTRY. 



63s 



The chickens are large, as would be expected from such 
eggs, entirely shining black, except a pinafore of white on the 
breast — in which respect they are precisely like the Black 
Polish chickens — and a slight sprinkling under the chin, 
with sometimes also a little white round the back and eyes ; 
their legs and feet are black. Many of them do not get 
perfectly feathered till they are three-fourths grown ; and, 
therefore, to have this variety come to perfection in a coun- 




try where the summers are much shorter than in their 
native climate, they must be hatched early in spring, so that 
they may be well covered with plumage before the cold 
rains of autumn. There is, however, a great lack of uni- 
formity in the time when they get their plumage ; the 
pullets are alwavs earlier and better feathered than the 
cockerels — the latter being generally half naked for a con- 
siderable time after being hatched, though some feather 
tolerably well at an early age. 

The Black is not the only valuable race of Spanish fowl; 



636 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

there is, also, the Gray, or Speckled, of a slaty gray color, 
with white legs. Their growth is so rapid, and their size, 
eventually, so large, that they are remarkably slow in 
obtaining their feathers. Although well covered with down 
when first hatched, they look almost naked when half- 
grown, and should, therefore, be hatched as early in spring 
as possible. The cross between the Pheasant-Malay and 
the Spanish produces a particularly handsome fowl. 

As early pullets, for laying purposes in the autumn and 
winter after they are hatched, no fowls can surpass the 
Spanish. They are believed, also, to be more precocious 
in their constitution ; and consequently to lay at an earlier 
age than the pullets of other breeds. 



IBRBBBIF^S P^0 MMFlJIGBMEI^nz. 



Breeding. 



y^OOD fowls are very profitable in the keeping of intel- 
^<-X, ligent breeders. It is stated, by those most competent 
to express the opinion, thatfour acres of land, devoted to the 
rearing of the best varieties of poultry, will, at ordinary 
prices, be quite as productive as a farm of one hundred and 
fifty acres cultivated in the usual way. The eggs of the 
common and cheaper kinds which might be used for incu- 
bators and nurses, would pay — or could be made to pay, 
if properly preserved, and sold at the right time — all 
expenses of feed, etc.; while good capons of the larger 
breeds will bring, in any of our larger markets, from three 
to five dollars per pair, and early spring chickens from 
twenty to twenty-five cents per pound. 

To make poultry profitable, then, it is only necessary 
that the better kinds be bred from, that suitable places be 



POULTRY. 6n 

provided for them, that they be properly fed, and carefully 
and intelligently managed. These requirements are too 
rarely complied with, in every respect, to enable a correct 
opinion to be formed as to what may be made out of poul- 
try under the most favorable circumstances. 

A few general principles, well understood and faithfully 
applied, will prove of great value. By " in-and-in breed- 
ing" is meant commerce between individuals of the same 
brood, or brother and sister, so to speak; by "close 
breeding," commerce between the parent and his offspring, 
in whatever degree. 

Crossing the Breed. 



To insure successful and beneficial crossing of distinct 
breeds, in order to produce a new and valuable variety, the 
breeder must have an accurate knowledge of the laws of 
procreation, and the varied influences of parents upon their 
offspring. All the breeds in this country are crosses, pro- 
duced either by accident or design. Crossing does not 
necessarily produce a breed ; but it always produces a 
variety, and that variety becomes a breed only where there 
is a sufficiency of stamina to make a distinctive race, and 
continue a progeny with the uniform or leading character- 
istics oT its progenitors. 

High Breeding. 



When uniformity of plumage can be effected in mixed 
breeds or varieties without a resort to in-and-in, or close 
breeding, and without sacrificing the health and vigor of 
the race, it is desirable ; and, in many instances, it can be 
accomplished in a satisfactory manner. What are called 
highly-bred fowls are, however, too often the deteriorated 
offspring of progenitors far below the original stock. 



638 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Genuine high breeding consists in the selection of parent 
stock of the same race, perfect in all the general charac- 
teristics, and of remote consanguinity. This should be 
resorted to periodically, in order to secure the best 
results. 

If a race is pure — that is, if the species or variety is 
absolutely distinct and unsophisticated — the progeny 
resembles the progenitors in almost every respect. The 
mixture of races, where the consanguinity is remote, is 
productive of decided benefits. 

To illustrate, in the case of fowls : when the blood is 
unmixed — as with the Guelderlands, and some others — 




KIGHTlNG Clicks. 



the offspring, in all respects, resemble their parents; in 
plumage, general habits, form, outline, etc. In thi^ case, 
they look almost identically the same. But when the blood 
is mixed — as with the Cochin Chinas, and many others — 
the plumage will vary widely, or slightly, according to 
circumstances, though many or most of the general charac- 
teristics may remain the same. The close breeding, to 
which many resort for the purpose of procuring uniformity, 
generally results in an absolute deterioration of the race in 
important respects. 

In some cases, close breeding—and, occasionally, in- 
and-in — seems to be in accordance with the laws of Nature ; 
as with the wild turkey, which, in its natural state, resorts 



POULTRY, 639 

to these modes of breeding, and yet the race does not 
change in appearance or degenerate. The reason is, that 
the breed is pure. In comparing any number of these 
birds, not the least dissimilarity is discoverable ; they all 
look alike, as they always have, and always will. They 
are changed, or deteriorated, only by crossing or confine- 
ment. 

Most breeds of the hen kind degenerate rapidly from 
close, or in-and-in breeding, because they are not perfect 
of their kind; that is, the breed is not pure, but of mixed 
blood; and in such objectionable bree iiig the race degen- 
erates just in proportion as the breed is imperfect or im- 
pure. The perfect Guelderland will admit of these modes 
of breeding, for a great length of time, without deteriora- 
tion ; but the impure or mixed will rapidly degenerate. 
This is also true of all breeds, wherein the characteristic 
marks are uniform and confirmed, showing perfection in 
the race. 

As a general rule, however, close and in-and-in breed- 
ing should be carefully avoided, where the race is not 
absolutely perfect, if it is desired to improve the breed ; 
and as all the breeds of this kind of fowls are of mixed 
blood, the danger of such breeding is greater or less, in 
exact proportion as the distinctive characteristics are vari- 
ant or fixed; and the danger still increases, if the breed is 
composed of strains of blood greatly dissimilar, or of races 
widely differing in the conformation or general habits.' 

Preserving the Distinctive Breeds. 



As to the time when the different breeds of hens should 
be separated in the spring, in order to preserve the breed 
pure, the most ample experience indicates that, if the eggs 
be preserved, and set after a separation of two days, the 
breed will be perfect, the offspring having all the charac- 
teristics or distinctive marks. 



640 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

When a valuable breed is produced, either by accident 
or design, it should be preserved, and the subsequent 
breeding should continue from that stock ; otherwise, there 
is no certainty of the purity of the blood of the new breed, 
for it does not follow that a different parentage, though of 
the same name or original breed precisely, will produce the 
same new breed, or anything resembling it. The Dorking 
fowl, for instance, was originally produced by crossing the 
Great Malay with the English Game, as an accident ; but 
it by no means follows that Dorkings are the uniform, or 
even the common result of such a cross, for hundreds of 
similar experiments have proved unsuccessful. The breed- 




ing, therefore, to be pure-blooded, must continue from the 
stock originally produced by accident; and as such breed- 
ing produces the leading characteristics of the race with 
great uniformity, the genuineness of the breed cannot be 
doubted. 

In order to produce a good cross, the parentage should 
be healthy, and from healthy races, not materially dissimilar 
in their general habits. The size .of the leg should always 
be looked to, in order to judge accurately as to purity of 
blood. If the leg is large for the breed — that is, if larger 
than the generality of the same breed — the purity of the 
blood, the fineness of the flesh, and most of the other 
valuable qualities, can be relied on ; but, if the legs are 



POULTRY. 641 

smaller than most others of the same breed, the fowl is 
spurious and of deteriorated blood. The fifth toe and 
feathered legs of some breeds were originally the result 
of accident ; but by long and careful breeding, they have 
become incorporated into the nature of certain races of 
general, though not universal or essential, requisites. 
When a fowl exhibits any special marks indicative of all 
the races or breeds from which the cross originated, it is a 
sure evidence of extraordinary purity of blood, and of the 
superior excellence of the race. The best fowls of the 
race should always be selected for crossing or general 
breeding; otherwise the breeds will degenerate. 

The quality — that is, the fineness, juiciness and rich- 
ness of flavor — of the flesh of domestic fowls is of much 
more importance than their size. All coarse-meated fowls 
should, therefore, be rejected, no matter how large they 
may be. There .is no difficulty in discriminating between 
coarse and fine fowls at any time. In the case of chickens, 
if the down is straight and stands out, and the body and 
limbs are loosely joined, the meat is coarse ; but if the 
down is glossy, and lies close to the body, and the body 
and limbs are compactly formed, the meat is fine ; and 
when grown, if the fowl is light in weight, in proportion to 
its size, the flesh is coarse ; but if heavy, the flesh is fine. 

There is also a fitness in the quality of the flesh ; for, 
if the meat is fine, the bones are fine, and the feathers are 
fine; and the converse holds true. If the flesh is fine, it 
is juicy and richly flavored; if coarse, it is dry, fibrous and 
insipid. 

The color of the legs, too, is quite material in judging 
of the quality of fowls.^ All other things being equal, 
dark-legged fowls have the finest flesh, and are most hardy. 
Turkeys, which have the finest flesh of any fowl of their 
size, have black legs ; the game-cock, likewise, which is 
universally acknowledged to be the finest-fleshed of any 
of the domestic fowls, except the Wild Indian fowl of Cal- 



642 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

cutta, has dark legs. It does not, however, of necessity 
follow that all dark-legged fowls are fine, or that all yellow 
or white-legged ones are coarse, since much depends upon 
the breed ; but it is true that the darkest leg which pertains 
to the breed indicates the finest fowl. 

The color of the feathers, also, has more or less to do 
with the quality of the fowl. Some breeds have a much 
more brilliant plumage than others ; but when brilliancy of 
plumage is here spoken of, it is to be understood in com 
parison with others of the same breed. If, therefore, a 
fowl is selected of rich and glossy plumage, when compared 




RUSTIC POULTRY-HOUSE. 



with others of the same breed, the legs will be dark of 
the kind, and the quality of the bird will excel. 

The best breeding is to cross or mix the races ; this 
process improves the breeds, in all respects. When the 
object in view is to perpetuate distinct varieties of uncon- 
taminated blood, the first requisite is to procure fowls 
known to be of pure blood, and possessing all the neces- 
sary characteristics of their kind. Labor is lost, unless 
the fowl selected is a perfect specimen of the variety ; for 
whatever imperfection exists is likely to be perpetuated in 
the progeny. Regard should be had to plumage, size, and 
form, in making a selection either of a cock or a pullet; 
and those are preferable which are hatched earliest in the 
year. The age of the fowls is a matter of considerable 



POULTRY. ■ 643 

importance ; and, though it is true that a pullet will lay the 
greatest number of eggs in her first year, yet it is believed 
that the chickens which are hatched from the second year's 
eggs are more vigorous and hardy. Old hens are gener- 
ally preferred to pullets as sitters, on account of their 
more sedate and matronly character. A young cock, 
though more active in his earliest days, and likely to 
bestow his attention on the hens with less reserve, is not, 
however, best for use in keeping up a breed. The eggs 
impregnated by him after his first season are likely to pro- 
duce the strongest chickens. It is an error to suppose — 
as is often represented^ — that his procreative power is 
decayed or vitiated after three or four years. On the con- 
trary, a healthy, vigorous cock, if not allowed to walk with 
too many hens, may be valuable and useful in the poultry- 
yard for a longer time. 

An error is often committed by assigning too many hens 
to one cock; and the result is a weakly and otherwise 
deteriorated progeny. No more than five hens should be 
allowed to associate with a single cock, when the quality 
of the breed is a matter of interest. Three, indeed, would 
be th^ better number for restriction ; but five is the farthest 
limit which can be safely assigned. 

Most persons, in obtaining a single vigorous cock and 
hen of a desirable variety, find their anticipations more 
than realized in the production of a fine progeny. The 
plumage is brilliant, and the chickens are of increased size, 
and remarkably strong and healthy. This desirable state 
of things continues so lone as the cock is restricted to a 
small number of hens; but as soon as his harem is 
enlarged, different effects are manifested, and a deteriora- 
tion in the stock is clearly observable — attributable, not 
to close-breeding, but to the increased disproportion of the 
females to the male, and the consequent overtasking of his 
powers. 

In breeding-time, great cleanliness should be preserved 



644 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

in the lodgings of the fowls, and the quantity and quality 
of food should be attended to. They should not be 
suffered to feed to repletion, and such kinds of food as are 
most nutritious should be carefully provided. Variety of 
food is essential ; and a proper proportion of animal and 
green food should be given with their usual fare. Suitable 
arrangements should, of course, be made to prevent any 
intermixture of breeds. A constant vigilance in this 
respect is the price of success ; and when all proper 
precautions are taken, the breeder may be perfectly secure 
that his anticipations will be realized. 



Selection of Stock. 



The habits of the domestic fowl, in a wild state, are 
too little known to ascertain whether the cocks always 
associate with the hens, or only occasionally. Though 
hens will lay some eggs without pairing, as this is not 
natural, the number will, for the most part, be less, and the 
laying uncertain ; it is, therefore, indispensable to attend 
to the laws of Nature in this respect. 

The number of hens to be allowed to one cock should 
vary with the object in view. The limit for valuable 
breeding purposes has already been indicated. If profit is 
sought for, in the production of eggs alone, one cock — if 
a stout, young, and lively bird— -may have as many as 
twenty-four hens. 

The choice of a cock is a very important thing. He is 
considered to have every requisite quality when he is of a 
good middling size ; carries his head high ; has a quick, 
animated look ; a strong and shrill voice ; a fine red comb, 
shining as if varnished ; wattles of a large size, and of the 
same color as the comb ; the breast broad ; the wings 
strong ; the plumage black, or of an obscure red ; the 
thighs very muscular ; the legs thick, and furnished with 



POULTRY. 645 

strong spurs ; and the claws rather bent and sharply 
pointed. He ought, also, to be free in his motions, to crow 
frequently, and to scratch the ground often in search of 
worms, not so much for himself as to treat his hens. He 
ought, withal, to be brisk, spirited, ardent, and ready in 
caressing the hens ; quick in defending them, attentive in 
soliciting them to eat, in keeping them together, and in 
assembling them at night. 

In breeding game cocks, the qualities required are 
every mark of perfect health, such as a ruddy complexion ; 
the feathers close, short, and not feeling cold or dry ; the 
flesh firm and compact ; and a full breast, betokening good 
lungs ; a tapering and thinness behind. He should be 
full in the girth, well coupled, lofty and aspiring, with a 
good thigh, the beam of his leg very strong, the eye 
large and vivid, and the beak strong, crooked, and thick at 
the base. 

A cock is at his prime at two years old, though cocks 
are sometimes so precocious as to show every mark of full 
vigor at four months, while others of the same brood do 
not appear in that state for several months afterward. 
When marks of declining vigor are perceived, the cock 
must be displaced to make way for a successor, which 
should be chosen from among the finest and bravest of the 
supernumerary young cocks, that ought to be reared for 
this special purpose. 

The change of cocks is of much importance, and is'fre- 
quently very troublesome to manage, for peace does not 
long subsist between them when they hold a divided do- 
, minion in the poultry-yard, since they are all actuated by a 
restless, jealous, hasty, fiery, ardent disposition ; and hence 
their quarrels become no less frequent than sanguinary. A 
battle soon succeeds to provocation or affront. The two op- 
ponents face each other, their feathers bristling up, their necks 
stretchedout, their heads low, and their beaks ready for the 
onslaught. They observe each other in silenc^ with fixed 



646 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

and sparkling eyes. On the least motion of either, they 
stand stiffly up, and rush furiously foward, dashing at each 
other with beak and spur in repeated sallies, till the more 
powerful or the more adroit has grievously torn the comb 
and wattles of his adversary, has thrown him down by the 
heavy stroke of his wings, or has stabbed him with his spurs. 

In the choice of a hen for sitting, a large bird should be 
selected, with large, wide-spreading wings. Though large, 
she must not, however, be heavy or leggy. No one of judg- 
ment would sit a Malay, as, in such case, not only would 
many eggs remain uncovered, but many, also, would be 
trampled upon and broken. Elderly hens will be more M'^ill- 
ing to sit than young and giddy pullets. 

After the common hen, which, on account of her fecun- 
dity, is deservedly esteemed, the tufted hens may be justly 
ranked ; particularly from being more delicate eating, 
because she fattens more readily, on account of laying less. 
The large breed, though less prolific, is preferable in rear- 
ing chickens for the market, or for making capons. With 
regard to these three kinds, the general opinion of breed- 
ers is, that the first is more prolific in the number of eggs, 
while the others produce larger chickens, which bring good 
prices. 

The Spanish fowl are not generally good sitters, but 
are excellent layers; the Dorkings reverse the order, 
being better sitters than layers. These qualities will be 
found to extend pretty generally to hens partaking of the 
prevailing colors of these two varieties ; the black being 
usually the best layers, and but careless or indifferent sit- 
ters, while gray or checkered hens are the best that can be^ 
produc^ed. 

Feeding. 



Experiments have demonstrated that what may be 
called the gastric juice in fowls has not sufficient power to 
dissolve their food, without the aid of the grinding action 



POULTRY. 647 

of the gizzard. Before the food is prepared for digestion, 
therefore, the grains must be subjected -^o a triturating 
process; and such as are not sufficiently bruised in this 
manner, before passing into the gizzard, are there reduced 
to the proper state, by its natural action. The action of 
the gizzard is, in this respect, mechanical ; this organ serv- 
ing as a mill to grind the food to pieces, and then, by 
means of its powerful muscles, pressing it gradually into 
the intestines, in the form of pulp. The power of this 
organ is said to be sufficient to pulverize hollow globules 
of glass in a very short time, and solid masses of the same 
substance in a few weeks. The rapidity of this process 
seems to be proportionate, generally, to the size of the 
bird. A chicken, for example, breaks up such substances 
as are received into its stomach less rapidly than the capon ; 
while a goose performs the same operation sooner than 
either. Needles, and even lancets, given to turkeys, have 
been broken in pieces and voided, without any apparent 
injury to the stomach. The reason, undoubtedly, is, that 
the larger species of birds have thicker and more powerful 
orsjans of digestion. 

It has long been the general opinion that, from some 
deficiency in the digestive apparatus, fowls are obliged to 
resort to the use of stones and gravel, in order to enable 
them to dispose of the food which they consume. Some 
have supposed that the use of these stones is to sheath 
the gizzard, in order to fit it to break into smaller fragments 
the hard, angular substances which might be swallowed ; 
they have also been considered to have a medicinal effect ; 
others have imagined that they acted as absorbents for 
undue quantities of acids in the stomach, or as stimulants 
to digestion ; while it has even been gravely asserted that 
they contribute directly to nutrition. 

Repeated experiments, however, have established that 
pebbles are not at all necessary to the trituration of the 
hardest kinds of substances which can be introduced into 



648 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

their stomachs ; and, of course, the usual food of fowls can 
be bruised withmit their aid. They do, however, serve a 
useful auxiliary purpose. When put in motion by the 
muscles, they are capable of producing some effects upon 
the contents of the stomach ; thus assisting- to gfrind down 
the grain, and separating its parts, the digestive fluid, or 
gastric juice, comes more readily in contact with it. 

Varieties of Food. — Fowls about a poultry-yard can 
usually pick up a portion of their subsistence, and, under 
favorable circumstances, the largest portion. When so 
situated, the keeping of poultry pays decidedly the best. 
The support even of poultry not designed for fattening 
should not, however, be made to depend entirely upon such 
precarious resources.. Fowls should be fed with punctu- 
ality, faithfulness, and discretion. 

They are fond of all sorts of grain — ^such as Indian 
corn, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat, barley, millet, etc.; but 
their particular preferences are not so likely to guide in the 
selection of their food, as the consideration of what is most 
economical, and easiest to be produced on the part of their 
owner. They will readily eat most kinds of vegetables in 
their green state, both cooked and raw. They likewise 
manifest an inclination for animal food — such as blood, fish, 
and flesh — whether raw or otherwise; and seem by no 
means averse to feeding on their own species. Insects, 
worms, and snails they will take with avidity. 

It is usual to give to domestic fowls a quantity of grain 
once, at least, daily; but, commonly, in less quantity than 
they would consume, if unrestricted. They feed with great 
voracity ; but their apparent greediness is not the criterion 
by which the possibility of satisfying them is to be judged. 
Moderate quantities of food will suffice; and the amount 
consumed will usually be proportioned to the size of the 
individuals. Whatever is cheapest, at any given time, may 
be given, without regard to any other considerations. 
Different circumstances and different seasons may occasion 



POULTRY. 649 

a variation in their appetite ; but a gill of grain is, gener- 
ally speaking, about the usual daily portion. Some very 
voracious fowls, of the largest size, will need the allowance 
of a third of a pint each day. 

Wheat is the most nutritive of cereal grains — with, 
perhaps, the exception of rice — as an article of human 
food. It is, therefore, natural to suppose that it is best for 
fowls, and the avidity with which they eat it would induce 
the conclusion that they would eat more of this than any 
other grain. Yet it appears that when fowls have as much 
wheat as they can consume, they will eat about a fourth 
part less than of oats, barley, or buckwheat; the largest 
quantity of wheat eaten by a fowl in one day being, accord- 
ing to several experiments, about three-sixteenthsof a pint. 
The difference in bulk is, however, compensated by the 
difference in weight, these three -sixteenths of wheat weigh- 
ing more than one-fourth of a pint of oats. The difference 
in weight is not, in every instance, the reason why a fowl 
is satisfied with a larger or smaller measure of one sort than 
another. Rye weighs less than wheat ; but still a fowl will 
be satisfied with half the quantity of this grain. Indian corn 
ranks intermediately between wheat and rye ; five-fourths of 
a pint of Indian corn with fowls being found, by experiment, 
equal to six-fourths of wheat, and three-fourths of rye. 

In estimating the quantity of grain daily consumed by 
the common fowl, it is wise to use data a little above than 
below the average. It may, therefore, safely be said that a 
fowl of the common size, having free access to as much as 
can be eaten through the day, will consume, day by day, 
of oats, buckwheat, or barley, one-fourth of a pint ; of wheat, 
three-sixteenths ; of Indian corn, five thirty-seconds ; and of 
rye, three thirty-seconds. 

It has been conclusively settled, by experiments instituted 
to that end, that there is the best economy in feeding poultry 
with boiled grain rather than with dry, in every case where 
Indian corn, barley, and wheat can be procured. The expense 



650 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of fuel, and the additional trouble incident to the process of 
cooking, are inconsiderable in comparison with the advan- 
tages derived. Where oats, buckwheat, or rye are used, 
boiling is useless, when profit is concerned. 

Bran. — It is an erroneous notion that money can be saved 
by feeding bran to fowls ; since, then, so little of the farina 
of the grain remains in it, that the nourishment derived from 
its use is hardly worth mentioning. When boiled, as it 
always must be, its bulk is but slightly increased. Two meas- 
ures of dry bran, mixed with water, are equal to but three- 
fifths of a measure of dry barley. 

Millet. — This is recommended as excellent food for young 
chickens. Fowls always prefer it raw ; though, as its bulk is 
increased one-half by boiling, it is doubtless more economical 
to feed it cooked. 

Rice. — Fowls are especially fond of this food, although 
they lose their relish for it when allowed to have it at their 
discretion. It should always be boiled ; but its expense puts 
it out of the question as a daily diet. When used continu- 
ously, it should always be mixed with some substance con- 
taining less nutritive matter, in order that the appetite may 
not be cloyed by it. 

Potatoes. — These are very nutritious, and are usually 
acceptable to fowls, when properly prepared. When raw, 
or in a cold state, they appear to dislike them ; they should 
therefore be boiled and given when moderately hot ; when 
very hot, it is said that fowls will injure themselves by 
eating them, and burning their mouths. They should also 
be broken into pieces of convenient size ; otherwise, they 
will be avoided. Occasionally raw pieces of potato will 
be devoured ; but fowls cannot be said to be fond of the 
root in this state. The same remark applies to most other 
roots, especially to carrots and parsnips ; these should 
always be prepared, in order to be wholesome and palat- 
able. Fowls should never be confined to a root diet, in 
any case ; but such food should be mingled or alternated 
with a sufficient quantity of grain. 



POULTRY. 651 

Green Food. — Indulgence in this kind of diet is 
absolutely necessary to the health of fowls, and is also 
advantageous in an economical point of view. The more 
delicate kinds of green vegetables are eaten with the 
utmost avidity ; all succulent weeds, grass and the leaves 
of trees and shrubs will also be consumed. If hens have 
green plots to graze in during the day, the expense of 
their keeping will be reduced one-half All the refuse of 
the kitchen, of a vegetable nature should be freely thrown 
into the poultry-yard. 

Green food, however, will not answer for an exclusive 
diet. Experiment has shown that fowls fed with this food 
alone for a few days together exhibit severe symptoms of 
relaxation of the bowels ; and, after the lapse of eight or 
nine days, their combs become pale and livid, which is the 
same indication of disease in them that paleness of the 
lips is in the human species. 

Earth -Worms. — These are regarded as delicacies by 
the inhabitants of the poultry-yard; and the individual who is 
fortunate enough to capture one is often forced to undergo a 
severe ordeal in order to retain his captive. Earth-worms 
are more plentiful in moist land, such as pastures, etc., 
than in that which is cultivated; in gardens, also, they 
exist in vast numbers. When it is desirable to take worms 
in quantities, it is only necessary to thrust a stake or three- 
pronged fork into the ground, to the depth of about a foot, 
and to move it suddenly backward and forward, in order 
to shake the soil all around ; the worms are instinctively 
terrified by any motion in the ground, and, when disturbed, 
hasten to the surface. 

It is advisable to store worms, on account of the trouble 
and difficulty of making frequent collections. They may 
be placed in casks, filled one-third full with earth, in quan- 
tities at least equal in bulk to the earth. The earth should 
be sprinkled occasionally, to prevent it from becoming too 
dry. Care should, however, be exercised that the earth 



6S2 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

does not become too moist ; since, in such an event, the 
worms will perish. In rainy weather, the casks should be 
protected with a covering. 

Animal Food. — Fowls readily eat both fish and flesh 
meat, and have no reluctance to feeding even on their own 
kind, picking much more faithfully than quadrupeds. 
Blood of any kind is esteemed by them a delicacy ; and fish, 
even when salted, is devoured with a relish. They seem 
to be indifferent whether animal food is given to them in a 
cooked or raw state ; though, if any preference can be 
detected, it is for the latter. They are sometimes so 
greedy that they will attack each other in order to taste the 
blood which flows from the wounds so inflicted ; and it is 
quite common for them, in the moulting season, to gratify 
themselves by picking at a sprouting feather on their own 
bodies and those of their companions. They appear to be 
partial to suet and fat ; but they should not be allowed to 
devour these substances in large quantities, on account of 
their tendency to render them inconveniently fat. 

It is highly advantageous to fowls to allow them a 
reasonable quantity of animal food for their diet, which 
should be fed to them in small pieces, both for safety and 
convenience. Bones and meat may be boiled ; and the 
liquor, when mixed with bran or meal, is healthy, and not 
expensive. 

Insects. — Fowls have a decided liking to flies, beetles, 
grasshoppers, and crickets ; and grubs, caterpillars, and 
maggots are held by them in equal esteem. It is difficult, 
however, to supply the poultry-yard with this species of 
food in sufficient quantity ; but enough may be provided, 
probably, to serve as luxuries. Some recommend that 
pailfuls of blood should be thrown on dunghills, where 
fowls are allowed to run, for the purpose of enticing flies 
to deposit their eggs, which, when hatched, produce 
swarms of maggots for the fowls. With the same view, 
any sort of garbage or offal may be thrown out, if the 



POULTRY. 653 

dunghill is so situated — as it always should be — that its 
exhalations will not prove an annoyance. 

Laying. 



The ordinary productiveness of a single individual of 
the family of domestic fowls is astonishing. While few 
hens are capable of hatching more than fifteen eggs, and 
are incapable usually of sitting more than twice in the 
year, frequent instances have occurred of hens laying three 
hundred eggs annually, while two hundred is the average 
number. Some hens are accustomed to lay at longer 
intervals than others. The habit of one variety is to lay 
once in three days only ; others will lay every other day ; 
and some produce an egg daily. The productiveness of 
hens depends, undoubtedly, upon circumstances, to a great 
degree. Climate has a great influence in this respect; and 
their lodging and food, as well as the care bestowed upon 
them, have more or less effect in promoting or obstructing 
their fecundity. 

There seems to be, naturally, two periods of the year in 
which fowls lay — early in the spring, and in the summer ; 
and this fact would seem to indicate that, if they were left 
to themselves, like wild birds, they would bring forth two 
broods in a year. The laying continues, with few inter- 
ruptions, till the close of summer, when the natural process 
of moulting causes them to cease. This annual ptocess 
commences about August, and continues through the three 
following months. The constitutional effect attending the 
beginning, continuance, and consequences of this period 
— a very critical one in the case of all feathered animals — 
prevents them from laying, until its very close, when the 
entire coat of new feathers replaces the old, the washing 
of the nutritive juices, yielded by the blood for the express 
purpose of promoting this growth, is a great drain upon 
this system ; and the constitutional forces, which would 



654 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Otherwise assist in forming the egg, are rendered inoper- 
ative. The approach of cold weather, also, at the close of 
the moulting- period, contributes to the same result. As 
the season of moulting is every year later, the older the 
hen is the later in the spring she will begin to lay. As 
pullets, on the contrary, do not moult the first year, they 
commence laying sooner than the elder hens ; and it is 
possible, by judicious and careful management, so to 
arrange, in a collection of poultry tolerably numerous, as 
to have eggs throughout the year. It is a singular fact 
that pullets hatched very late in autumn, and therefore of 
stunted growth, will lay nearly as early as those hatched 
in spring. The checking of their growth seems to have 
a tendency to produce eggs • of course, very tiny ones at 
first. 

When a hen is near to the time of laying, her comb and 
wattles change from their previous dull hue to a bright red, 
while the eye becomes more bright, the gait more spirited, 
and she occasionally cackles for three or four days. These 
signs rarely prove false ; and when the time comes that she 
desires to lay, she appears very restless, going- backward 
and forward, visiting every nook and corner, cackling 
meanwhile, as if displeased because she cannot suit herself 
with a convenient nest. Not having looked out for one 
previously, she rarely succeeds in pleasing herself till the 
moment comes when she can no longer tarry, when she is 
compelled to choose one of the boxes or baskets provided 
for this purpose in the poultry-house where she settles 
herself in silence and lays. 

In some instances, a hen will make a choice of a partic- 
ular nest in which to lay, and when she finds, upon desiring 
to lay, that this is pre-occupied by another hen, she will 
wait till it is vacated ; but, in other cases, hens will go into 
any nest which they find, preferring, for the most part, 
those having the greatest number of eggs. The process 
of laying is, most probably, rather painful, though the hen 



POULTRY. 65s 

does not indicate this by her cries ; but the instant she has 
done she leaves the nest, and utters her joy by peculiarly 
loud notes, which are re-echoed by the cock, as well as by 
some of the other hens. Some hens, however, leave the 
nest in silence, after laying. 

It seems ever to have been an object of great importance, 
in an economical point of view, to secure the laying of hens 
during those parts of the year when, if left to themselves, 
they are indisposed to deposit their eggs. For this purpose 
many methods have been devised, the most of which embrace 
an increase of rich and stimulating food. Some recommend 
shutting hens up in a warm place during winter, and giving 
them boiled potatoes, turnips, carrots and parsnips. Others 
assign as the reason for their not laying in winter, in some 
climates, that the earth is covered with snow, so that they 
can find no ground, or other calcareous matter, to form the 
shells ; and advise, therefore, the bones of meat or poultry 
should be pounded and given to them, either mixed with 
their food, or by itself, which they will greedily eat. Upon 
the whole, it would seem that the most feasible means of 
obtaining fresh eggs during the winter is to have young 
hens — pullets hatched only the previous spring being the 
best — to use extreme liberality in feeding, and to cautiously 
abstain from over-stocking the poultry-yard. 

As serviceable food to increase laying, scraps of animal 
food, given two or three times a week, answer admirably ; 
the best mode of doing so is throwing down a bullock's 
liver, leaving it with them, and permitting them to pick it 
at will ; this is better raw than boiled. Lights, or guts, or 
any other animal refuse, will be found to answer the same 
purpose ; but these substances require, or, at all events, 
are better for boiling. Cayenne pepper — in fact all 
descriptions of pepper, but especially cayenne pepper in 
pods — is a favorite food with fowls ; and, being a power- 
ful stimulant, it promotes laying. 

An abundant supply of lime, in some form, should not 



6S6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

be omitted ; either chopped bones, old mortar, or a lump of 
chalky marl. The shell of every egg used in the house should 
be roughly crushed and thrown down to the hens, which 
will greedily eat them. A green, living turf will be of service, 
both for its grass and the insects it may contain. A dusting- 
place, wherein to get rid of vermin, is indispensable. A 
daily hot meal of potatoes, boiled as carefully as for the 
family table, then chopped, and sprinkled or mixed with 
bran, will be comfortable and stimulating. After every meal 
of the household, the bones and other scraps should be 
collected and thrown out. 

As to the number of eggs, the varieties which possess 
the greatest fecundity are the Shanghaes, Guelderlands, 
Dorkings, Polish, and Spanish. The Polish and Spanish 
lay the largest eggs ; the Dorkings, eggs of good size ; 
while the Game and the smaller kinds produce only small 
eggs. Those eggs which have the brightest yoke are the 
finest flavored ; and this is usually the case with the smaller 
kinds. The large eggs of the larger varieties which have 
yolks of a pale color, and are inferior in flavor. 



Preservation of Eggs. 



Eggs, after being laid, lose daily, by transpiration, a 
portion of the matter which they contain, notwithstanding 
the compact texture of their shell, and of the close tissue of 
the flexible membranes lining the shell, and enveloping the 
white. When an egg is fresh, it is full, without any vacancy ; 
and this a matter of common observation, whether it be 
broken raw, or when it is either soft or hard-boiled. In all 
stale eggs, on the contrary, there is uniformly more or less 
vacancy, proportioned to the loss they have sustained by 
transpiration ; hence, in order to judge of the freshness of 
an egg, it is usual to hold it up to the light, when the 
transparency of the shell makes it appear whether or not 



POULTRY. 657 

there is any vacancy in the upper portion, as well as whether 
the yolk and white are mingled and muddy, by the rotting- 
and bursting of their enveloping membranes. 

The transpiration of eggs, besides, is proportional to the 
temperature in which they are placed, cold retarding and 
heat promoting the process ; hence, by keeping fresh-laid 
eggs in a cool cellar, or, better still, in an ice-house, they will 
transpire less, and be preserved for a longer period sound, 
than if they are kept in a warm place, or exposed to the 
sun's light, which has also a good effect in promoting the 
exhalation of moisture. As, therefore, fermentation and 
putridity can only take place by communication with the air 
at a moderate temperature, such connection must be excluded 
by closing the pores of the shell. 

It is an indispensable condition of the material used for 
this purpose, that it shall be incapable of being dissolved 
by the moisture transpired from the interior. Spirits of 
wine varnish, made with lac, answers the requirement ; this 
is not very expensive, but is rather an uncommon article in 
country places, where eggs are most abundantly produced. 

A better material is a mixture of mutton and beef suet, 
which should be melted together over a slow fire, and strained 
through a linen cloth into an earthen pan. The chief advan- 
tage in the use of this is, that the eggs rubbed over with it 
will boil as quickly as if nothing had been done to them, the 
fat melting off as soon as they touch the water. The trans- 
piration is as effectually stopped by the thinnest layer oP fat 
as by a thick coating, provided that no sensible vestige be 
left on the surface of the shell. All sorts of fat, grease, or 
oil are well adapted to this purpose ; by means of butter, 
hog's lard, olive oil, and similar substances, eggs may be pre- 
served for nine months as fresh as the day upon which they 
were laid. 

Another method is, to dip each egg into melted pork- 
lard, rubbing it into the shell with the finger, and pack them 
in old fig-drums, or butter firkins, setting every egg upright, 



658 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

with the small end downward. Or, the eggs may be packed 
in the same way in an upright earthen pan ; then cut some 
rough sheep's tallow, procured the same day that the animal 
is killed, into small pieces, and melt it down ; strain it from 
the scraps, and pour it while warm, not hot, over the eggs in 
the jar till they are completely covered. When all is cold 
and firm, set the vessel in a cool, dry place till the contents 
are wanted. 

Eggs will also keep well when preserved in salt, by 
arranging them in a barrel, first a layer of salt, then a layer 
of eggs, alternately. This can, however, also act mechanic- 
ally, like bran or saw-dust, so long as the salt continues dry; 
for, in that case, the chlorine, which is the antiseptic principle 
of the salt, is not evolved. When the salt, however, becomes 
damp, its preservative principle will be brought into action, 
and may penetrate through the pores of the shell. 

Immersing eggs in vitriol, or sulphuric acid, is likewise 
a very effectual means of preserving them ; the sulphuric 
acid acts chemically upon the carbonate of lime in the shell, 
by setting free the carbonic acid gas, while it unites with the 
lime, and forms sulphate of lime, or plaster of Paris. 
Another method is, to mix together a bushel of quick-lime, 
two pounds of salt, and eight ounces of cream of tartar, 
adding a sufficient quantity of water, so that eggs may be 
plunged into the paint. When a paste is made of this con- 
sistence, the eggs are put into it, and may be kept fresh, it 
is said, for two years. 

Another method of preserving eggs a long while fresh, 
depends upon a very different principle. Eggs that have 
not been rendered reproductive by the cock have been found 
to continue very uncorrupted. In order, therefore, to have 
eggs keep fresh from spring to the middle or even to the end 
of winter, it is only necessary to deprive the hens of all 
communication with the cocks, for at least a month before 
the eggs are put away. 

It ought not to be overlooked, in this connection, that 



POULTRY. 659 

eggs not only spoil by the transpiration of their moisture 
and the putrid fermentation of their contents, in consequence 
of air penetrating through the pores of the shell, but also by 
being moved about and jostled, when carried to a distance 
by sea or land. Any kind of rough motion, indeed, rup- 
tures the membranes which keep the white, the yolk, and the 
germ of the chicken in their appropriate places ; and upon 
these being mixed, putrefaction is promoted. 



Choice of Eggs for Setting. 

Eggs for hatching should be as fresh as possible ; if laid 
the very same day, so much the better. This is not always 
possible when a particular stock is required ; but, if a 
numerous and healthy brood is all that is wanted, the most 
recent eggs should be selected. Eggs may be kept for this 
purpose in either of the ways first mentioned ; or they may 
be placed on their points in a box, in a cool, dry place ; the 
temperature about sixty or sixty-five Fahrenheit ; the bot- 
tom of the box should be covered with a layer of wheat bran, 
then a layer of eggs put in, and covered with bran ; and so 
on, alternating, In this mode, evaporation is prevented, and 
the eggs are almost as certain to hatch out, at the end of six 
weeks, or even two months, as when they were laid. 

It is difficult to fix the exact term during which ^ the 
vitality of an egg remains unextinguished ; as it, unquestion- 
ably, varies from the very first, according to the vigor of the 
parents of the inclosed germ, and fades away gradually till 
the final moment of non-existence. The chickens in stale 
eggs have not sufficient strength to extricate themselves 
from the shell ; if assisted, the yolk is found to be partially 
absorbed into the abdomen, or not all ; they are too faint to 
stand ; the muscles of the neck are unable to lift their heads, 
much less to peck ; and although they may sometimes be 
saved by extreme care, their usual fate is to be trampled to 



66o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

death by the mother, if they do not expire almost as soon as 
they begin to draw their breath. Thick-shelled eggs, like 
those of geese, Guinea fowls, etc., will retain life longer 
than thin-shelled ones, as those of hens and ducks. When 
choice eggs are expected to be laid, it is more prudent to 
have the hen which is to sit upon them wait for them, 
than to keep other eggs waiting for her. A good sitter may 
be amused for two or three weeks with a few addle-eggs, and 
so be ready to take charge of those of value immediately 
upon their arrival. 

As to the choice of eggs for hatching, such should be 
taken, of course, as are believed to have been rendered pro- 
ductive. Those of medium size — the average size that the 
hen lays — are most apt to fulfill this requirement. A very 
fair judgment may be formed of eggs from their specific 
gravity; such as do not sink to the bottom in a bowl of 
tepid water should be rejected. 

The old-time notion, that small, round eggs produce 
females, and long, pointed ones males — ■ originally applied, 
by the ancients, to eating rather than hatching purposes — 
may be considered exploded. The hen that lays one round 
egg continues to lay all her eggs round ; and the hen that 
lays one oblong, lays all oblong. According to this theory, 
then, one hen would be the perpetual mother of cocks, and 
another the perpetual producer of pullets ; which is absurd, 
as daily experience proves. 

The same fate has been meted out to that other venerable 
test of sex, the position of the air-bag at the blunt end of the 
shell. " If the vacancy is a little on one side, it will produce 
a hen ; if it is exactly in the center, a cock. " Upon this 
assumption, the cock should be a very rare bird ; since there 
are very few eggs indeed in which the air-bottle is exactly 
concentric with the axis of the egg. In many breeds, on the 
contrary, the cockerels bear a proportion of at least one-third, 
and sometimes two-thirds, especially in those hatched during 
winter, or in unfavorable seasons ; the immediate cause, 



_ POULTRY. 66l 

doubtless, being that the eggs producing a more robust sex 
possess a stronger vitaHty. 

Nor are these two alleged tests — the shape of the egg, 
and the position of the air-tube — consistent with each 
other ; for, if the round egg produces a pullet, and an egg 
with the air-bag a little on one side does the same, then all 
round eggs should have the air-bag in that position, or one 
test contradicts the other ; and the same argument applies to 
the long or oval egg. The examination of a few eggs by the 
light of a candle will satisfy any one that the position of the 
air-bag differs as much in a long egg as it does in a round 

There are, indeed, no known means of determining 
beforehand the sex of fowl ; except, perhaps, that cocks may 
be more likely to issue from large eggs, and hens from small 
ones. As, however, the egg of each hen may be recog- 
nized, the means are accessible of propagating from those 
parents whose race it is judged most desirable to contmue. 



Incubation. 



The hen manifests the desire of incubation in a manner 
different from that of any other known bird. Nature having 
been sufficiently tasked in one direction, she becomes 
feverish and loses flesh ; her comb is livid ; her eyes are 
dull ; she bristles her feathers to intimidate an imaginary 
enemy ; and, as if her chickens were already around her, 
utters the maternal " cluck." 

When the determination to sit becomes fixed — it is not 
necessary to immediately gratify the first faint inclinations 
— the nest which she has selected should be well cleaned, 
and filled with fresh straw. The number of eggs to be 
allowed will depend upon the season, and upon the size of 
egg and hen. The wisest plan is not to be too greedy ; the 
number of chickens hatched is often in inverse proportion to 
the number of eggs set — five have only been obtained from 



662 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

sixteen. An odd number is, however, to be preferred, as 
being- better adapted to covering- in the nest. Hens will, in 
general, well cover from eleven to thirteen eggs laid by 
themselves. A bantam may be trusted with about half a 
dozen eggs of a large breed, such as the Spanish. A hen 
of the largest size, as a Dorking, will successfully hatch, at 
the most, five goose-eggs. 

When hens are determined to sit at seasons of the year 
at which there is litde chance of bringing up chickens, the 
eggs of ducks or geese may be furnished her ; the young 
may be reared, with a little painstaking, at any time of the 
year. The autumnal laying of the China and of the common 
goose is very valuable for this purpose. Turkey-hens fre- 
quently have this fit of unseasonable incubation. 

Where, however, it is inconvenient to gratify the desire, 
one or two doses of jalap will often entirely remove it ; and 
fowls often lay in three weeks afterward. Some place the 
would-be sitter in an aviary, for four or five days at most, 
and feed her but sparingly ; from the commencement of her 
confinement, she will gradually leave off clucking, and when 
this has ceased, she may be again set free, without manifest- 
ing the least desire to take to the nest again, and in a short 
time the hen will commence laying with renewed vigor, 
The barbarous measures sometimes resorted to should be 
frowned upon by every person with humane feelings. 

Three weeks is the period of incubation; though chickens 
are sometimes excluded on the eighteenth day. When the 
hen does not sit close for the first day or two, or in early 
spring, it will occasionally be some hours longer ; when the 
hen is assiduous, and the weather hot, the time will be a 
trifle shorter. Chickens have been known to come out as 
late as the twenty-seventh day. 

It may not be uninteresting to note the changes which 
the egg passes through in hatching. In twelve hours, 
traces of the head and body of the chicken may be dis- 
cerned ; at the end of the second day, it assumes the form 



POULTRY. 663 

of a horseshoe, but no red blood as yet is seen ; at the 
fiftieth hour, two visicles of blood, the rudiments of the 
heart, may be distinguished, one resembling a noose folded 
down upon itself, and pulsating distinctly ; at the end of 
seventy hours, the wings may be seen, and, in the head, 
the brain and the bill, in the form of bubbles; toward the 
end of the fourth day, the heart is more completely formed; 
and on the fifth day the liver is discernible; at the end of 
one hundred and thirty hours, the first voluntary motions 
may be observed; in seven hours more, the lungs and 
stomach appear; and, in four hours after this, the intestines, 
the loins, and the upper jaw. At the end of the one hun- 
dred and forty-fourth hour, two drops of blood are observa- 
ble in the heart, which is also further developed; and, on 
the seventh day, the brain exhibits some consistence. At 
the one hundred and ninetieth hour, the bill opens, and the 
muscular flesh appears on the breast; in four hours more, 
the breast-bone is seen; and, in six hours afterward, the 
ribs may be observed forming from the back. At the ex- 
piration of two hundred and thirty-six hours, the bill 
assumes a green color, and, if the chicken be taken out of 
the egg, it will visibly move. At two hundred and sixty- 
four hours, the eyes appear; at two hundred and eighty- 
eight hours, the ribs are perfect; and at three hundred and 
thirty-one hours, the spleen approaches near to the stomach, 
and the lungs to the chest; at the end of three hundred 
and fifty-five hours, the bill frequently opens and shuts. 
At the end of the eighteenth day, the first cry of the chicken 
is heard; and it gradually acquires more strength, till it is 
enabled to release itself from confinement. 

After the hen has set a week, the fertility of the eggs 
may be satisfactorily ascertained by taking a thin board 
with a small orifice in it, placing a candle at the back, and 
holding up each egg to the points of light. The barren 
eggs may then be removed, and used, hard-boiled, for 
young chickens. Some reserve this for the eleventh or 
twelfth day. 



664 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

About the twenty-first day, the chicken is excluded from 
the egg ; for the purpose of breaking the shell of which it is 
furnished with a horny-pointed scale, greatly harder than the 
bill itself, at the upper tip of the bill^a scale which falls off, 
or becomes absorbed, after the chicken is two or three days 
old — the chicken is rolled up in the egg in the form of a ball, 
with its fore part toward the highest end, and its beak upper- 
most, the hard scale nearly touching the shell. 

The first few strokes of the chicken's beak produce a 
small crack, rather nearer the larger than the smaller end of 
the egg, and the egg is said to be chipped. From the first 
crack, the chicken turns gradually round, from left to right, 
chipping the shell as it turns, in a circular manner, never 
obliquely. All do not succeed in producing the result in the 
same time ; some being able to complete the work within an 
hour, and others taking two or three hours, while half a day 
is most usually employed, and some require twenty-four 
hours, or more, but rarely two days. Some have greater 
obstacles to overcome than others, all shells not being alike 
in thickness and hardness. 

When chickens do not affect their escape easily, some 
little assistance is needed ; but the difficulty is to know when 
to give it, as a rash attempt to help them, by breaking the 
shell, particularly in a downward direction toward the smaller 
end, is often followed by a loss of blood, which can ill be 
spared. It is better not to interfere, until it is apparent that 
a part of the brood have been hatched for some time, say 
twelve hours, and that the rest cannot succeed in making 
their appearance. It will then generally be found that the 
whole fluid contents of the egg, yolk and all, are taken up 
into the body of the chicken, and that weakness alone has 
prevented its forcing itself out. The causes of such weak- 
ness are various ; sometimes, insufficient warmth, from the 
hen having set on too many eggs ; sometimes the original 
feebleness of the vital spark ; but, most frequently, the stale- 
ness ot the eggs employed for incubation. 



POULTRY. 665 

The chances of rearing such chickens are small ; but, if 
they survive the first twenty-four hours, they may be consid- 
ered as safe. The only thing to be done is to take them 
from the hen till she is settled at night, keeping them in the 
meanwhile as snug and warm as possible. If a gentle hand 
can persuade a crust of bread down their throats, it will do 
no harm ; but all rough and clumsy manipulation will utterly 
defeat the end in view. Animal heat will be their greatest 
restorative. At night, they should be quietly slipped under 
their mother ; the next morning will disclose the sequel. 

The period of incubation in the Guinea fowl is twenty- 
eight days, or one month ; in the pea fowl, from twenty-seven 
to twenty-nine days ; in turkeys, a month ; in ducks, thirty 
or thirty-one days ; and in geese, from twenty-seven to 
thirty days. 

Poultry-Houses. 

The three grand requisites in a poultry-house are clean- 
liness, dryness, and warmth. A simple arrangement for this 
purpose is a shed built against the gable of the house, oppo- 
site to the part warmed by the kitchen fire, in which are 
placed cross-bars for roosting, with boxes for laying in, or 
quantities of fresh straw. This should always have an open- 
ing, to allow the poultry-house to be cleansed out, at least 
once a week. Fowls will never thrive long amidst unclean- 
liness ; and even with the utmost care a place where they 
have been long kept becomes tainted, as it is called ; the 
surface of the ground becomes saturated with their exurice, 
and is therefore no longer conducive to health. 

To avoid this effect, some persons in the country fre- 
quently change the sites of their poultry-houses, to obtain 
fresh ground ; while others, who cannot thus change, purify 
the houses by fumigations of blazing pitch, by washing with 
hot lime water, and by strewing large quantities of pure sand 
both within and without. Washing the floor every week is 



666 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

a necessity ; for which purpose it is advantageous to have 
the house paved either with stones, bricks, or tiles. A good 
flooring, however, and cheaper than either of these, may be 
formed by using a composition of lime and smithy ashes, 
together with the riddlings of common kitchen ashes ; these, 
having been all finely broken, must be mixed together with 
water, put on the floor with a mason's trowel, and nicely 
smoothed on the surface. If this is put on a floor which is 
in a tolerably dry situation, and allowed to harden before 
being used, it will become nearly as solid and compact as 
stone, and is almost as durable. 

The inside of the laying-boxes should be frequently 
washed with hot water, to free them from vermin, which 
greatly torment the sitting hens. For the same purpose, 
poultry should always have a heap of dry sand, or fine ashes, 
laid under some covered place or thick tree near their yard, 
in which they may dust themselves ; this being their means 
of ridding themselves of the vermin with which they are 
annoyed. 

In every establishment of poultry-rearing, there ought to 
be some separate crib or cribs, into which to remove fowl 
when laboring under disease ; for, not only are many of the 
diseases to which poultry are liable highly contagious, but 
the sick birds are also regarded with dislike by such as are in 
health ; and the latter will, generally, attack and maltreat 
them, aggravating, at least, their sufferings, if not actually 
depriving them of life. The moment, therefore, that a bird 
is perceived to droop, or appears pining, it should be 
removed to one of these infirmaries. 

Separate pens are also necessary, to avoid quarreling 
among some of the highly-blooded birds, more particularly 
the game fowl. They are also necessary when different varie- 
ties are kept, in order to avoid improper or undesirable 
commixture from accidental crossing. These lodgings may 
be most readily constructed in rows parallel to each other ; 
the partitions may be formed of lattice-work, being thus 



POULTRY. 66^ 

rather ornamental, and the cost of erection but trifling-. Each 
of these lodgings should be divided into two compartments, 
one somewhat larger than the other; one to be close and 
warm, for the sleeping-room ; and the other, a large one, 
airy and open, that the birds may enjoy themselves in the 
daytime. Both must be kept particularly dry and clean, and 
be well protected from the weather. 

A hen-ladder is an indispensable piece of furniture, though 
frequently absent. This is a sort of ascending scale of 
perches, one a little higher than the other ; not exactly above 
its predecessor, but somewhat in advance. By neglecting 
the use of this very simple contrivance, many valuable fowls 
may be lost or severely injured, by attempting to fly down 
from their roost — an attempt from succeeding in which the 
birds are incapacitated, in consequence of the bulk of their 
body preponderateing over the power of their wings. 

Some people allow their fowl to roost abroad all night, 
in all weathers, in trees, or upon fences near the poultry- 
house. This is a slovenly mode of keeping even the hum- 
blest live-stock ; it offers a temptation to thieves, and the 
health of the fowls cannot be improved by their being soaked 
all night long in drenching rain, or having their feet frozen 
to the branches or rails. There is no difficulty in accustom- 
ing any sort of poultry, except the pea fowl, to regular 
housing at night. 

It is better that turkeys should not roost in the same 
house with the domestic fowl, as they are apt to be cross to 
sitting and laying hens. 

No poultry-house is what it ought to be, it may be sug- 
gested, in conclusion, unless it is in such a state as to afford 
a lady, without offending her sense of decent propriety, a 
respectable shelter on a showery day. 



BrsEfiSBS jqFiB IFbeir ReffiBBiEg. 



IN our climate, the disorders to which poultry are liable, are 
comparatively, few in number, and they usually yield to 
judicious treatment. The little attention that has too gen- 
erally been bestowed upon this subject may be accounted 
for from the circumstance that, in an economical point of 
view, the value of an individual fowl is relatively insignificant; 
and while the ailments of other domesticated animals gen- 
erally claim a prompt and efficient care, the unhappy inhab- 
itants of the poultry-yard are too often relieved of their 
sufferings in the most summary manner. There are reasons, 
which will justify a more careful regard in this matter, 
besides the humanity of adding to the comfort of these 
useful creatures; and the attempt to cure, in cases of dis- 
ease, will often be rewarded by their flesh being rendered 
more palatable, and their eggs more wholesome. 

Most of the diseases to which fowls are subject are the 
result of errors in diet or management, and should have 
been prevented, or may be removed by a change, and the 
adoption of a suitable regimen. When an individual is 
attacked it should be forthwith removed, to prevent the con- 
tamination of the rest of the flock. Nature, who proves a 
guardian to fowls in health, will nurse them in their weak- 
ness, and act as a most efficient physician to the sick; and 
the aim of all medical treatment should be to follow the 
indications which Nature holds out, and assist in the effort 
which she constantly makes for the restoration of health. 

Asthma. 



This common disease seems to differ sufficiently in its 
characteristics to warrant a distinction into two species. In 



POULTRY. 669 

one it appears to be caused by an obstruction of the air-cells, 
by an accumulation of phlegm, which interferes with the 
exercise of their functions. The fowl labors for breath, in 
consequence of not being able to take in the usual quantity 
of air at an inspiration. The capacity of the lungs is thereby 
diminished, the lining membrane of the windpipe becomes 
thickened, and its minute branches are more or less affected. 
These effects may, perhaps, be attributed to the fact that, as 
our poultry are originally natives of tropical climates, they 
require a more equal temperature than is afforded, except by 
artificial means, however well they may appear acclimated. 

Another variety of asthma is induced by frighc or undue 
excitement. It is sometimes produced by chasing fowls to 
catch them, by seizing them suddenly, or by their fighting 
with each other. In these cases, a blood-vessel is often rup- 
tured, and sometimes one or more of the air-cells. The 
symptoms are, short breathing, opening of the beak often, 
and for quite a time ; heaving and panting of the chest, and, 
in case of a rupture of a blood-vessel, a drop of blood 
appearing on the beak. 

.Treatment. — Confirmed asthma is difficult to cure. For 
the disease in its incipient state, the fowl should be kept warm, 
and treated with repeated doses of hippo-powder and sul- 
phur, mixed with butter, with the addition of a small quan- 
tity of Cayenne pepper. 



Costiveness. 

The existence of this disorder will become apparent by 
observing the unsuccessful attempts of the fowl to relieve 
itself It frequently results from continued feeding on dry 
diet, without access to green vegetables. Indeed, without 
the use of these, or some substitute — such as mashed pota- 
toes— costiveness is sure to ensue. The want of a sufficient 
supply of good water will also occasion the disease, on 



670 "rHE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

account of that peculiar structure of the fowl which renders 
them unable to void their urine, except in connection with 
the fceces of solid food, and through the same channel. 

Treatmcjit. — Soaked bread, with warm skimmed-milk, 
is a mild remedial agent, and will usually suffice. Boiled 
carrots or cabbage are more efficient. A meal of earth- 
worms is sometimes advisable ; and hot potatoes, mixed with 
bacon-fat, are said to be excellent. Castor-oil and burned 
butter will remove the most obstinate cases ; though a clyster 
of oil, in addition, may sometimes be required, in order to 
effect a cure. 

Diarrhea. 



There are times when fowls dung more loosely than at 
others, especially when they have been fed on green or soft 
food ; but this may occur without the presence of disease. 
Should this state, however, deteriorate into a confirmed and 
continued laxity, immediate attention is required to guard 
against fatal effects. The causes of diarrhea are dampness, 
undue acidity in the bowels, or the presence of irritating 
matter there. 

The symptoms are lassitude and emaciation ; and, in very 
severe cases, the voiding of calcareous matter, white, streaked 
with yellow. This resembles the yoke of a stale ^gg, and 
clings to the feathers near the vent. It becomes acrid, from 
the presence of ammonia, and causes inflammation, which 
speedily extends throughout the intestines. 

Treaimenl. — This, of course, depends upon the cause. 
If the disease is brought on by a diet of green or soft food, 
the food must be changed, and water sparingly given ; if it 
arises from undue acidity, chalk mixed with meal is advan- 
tageous, but rice-flour boluses are most reliable. Alum- 
water, of moderate strength, is also beneficial. In cases of 
bloody flux, boiled rice and milk, given warm, with a little 
magnesia, or chalk, may be successfully used. 



POtJLTRV. 671 

Fever. 



The most decided species of fever to which fowls are 
subject occurs at the period of hatching, when the animal 
heat is often so increased as to be perceptible to the touch. 
A state of fever may also be observed when they are about 
to lay. This is, generally, of small consequence, when the 
birds are otherwise healthy ; but it is of moment, if any other 
disorder is present, since, in such case, the original malady 
will be aggravated. Fighting also frequently occasions fever, 
which sometimes proves fatal. 

The symptoms are an increased circulation of the blood ; 
excessive heat ; and restlessness. 

Treatment. — Light food and change of air ; and, if nec- 
essary, aperient medicine, such as castor-oil, with a little 
burned butter. 

Indigestion. 



Cases of indigestion among fowls are common, and 
deserve attention according to the causes from which they 
proceed. A change of food will often produce crop-sickness, 
as it is called, when the fowl takes but little food, and sud- 
denly loses flesh. Such disease is of little consequence, and 
shortly disappears. When it requires attention at all, all the 
symptoms will be removed by giving their diet in a wajm 
state. 

Sometimes, however, a fit of indigestion threatens severe 
consequences, especially if long continued. Every effort 
should be made to ascertain the cause, and the remedy must 
be governed by the circumstances of the case. 

The symptoms are heaviness, moping, keeping away from 
the nest, and want of appetite. 

Treatment. — Lessen the quantity of food, and oblige the 
fowl to exercise in an open walk. Give some powdered cay- 
enne and gentian, mixed with the usual food. Iron-rust, 



672 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

mixed with soft food, or diffused in water, is an excellent 
tonic, and is indicated when there is atrophy, or diminution 
of the flesh. It may be combined with oats or grain. Milk- 
warm ale has also a good effect, when added to the diet of 
diseased fowls. 

Lice. 



The whole feathered tribe seem to be peculiarly liable to 
be infested with lice ; and there have been instances when 
fowls have been so covered in this loathsome manner that 
the natural color of the feathers has been undistinguishable. 
The presence of vermin is not only annoying to poultry, but 
materially interferes with their growth, and prevents their 
fattening. They are, indeed, the greatest drawback to the 
success and pleasure of the poultry fanciers ; and nothing 
but unremitting vigilance will exterminate them, and keep 
them exterminated. 

Treatment. — To attain this, whitewash frequently all the 
parts adjacent to the roosting-pole, take the poles down and 
run them slowly through a fire made of wood shavings, dry 
weeds, or other light waste combustibles. Flour of sulphur 
placed in a vessel, and set on fire in a close poultry-house, 
will penetrate every crevice, and effectually exterminate the 
vermin. When a hen comes off with her brood, the old nest 
should be cleaned out, and a new one placed ; and dry tobac- 
co-leaves, rubbed to a powder between the hands, and mixed 
with the hay of the nest, will add much to the health of the 
poultry 

Flour of sulphur may also be mixed with Indian meal 
and water, and fed in the proportion of one pound of sul- 
phur to two dozen fowls, in two parcels, two days apart. 
Almost any kind of grease, or unctuous matter, is also cer- 
tain death to the vermin of domestic poultry. In the case 
of very young chickens, it should only be used in a warm, 
sunny day, when they should be put into a coop with their 



Poultry. 673 

mother, the coop darkened for an hour or two, and every 
thing made quiet, that they may secure a good rest and nap 
after the fatigue occasioned by greasing them. They should 
be handled with great care, and greased thoroughly ; the 
hen, also. After resting, they may be permitted to come 
out and bask in the sun ; and in a few days they will look 
sprightly enough. 

To guard against vermin, however, it should not be for- 
gotten that cleanliness is of vital importance ; and there 
must always be plenty of slacked lime, dry ashes, and sand, 
easy of access to the fowls, in which they can roll and dust 
themselves. 



Loss of Feathers. 

This disease, common to confined fowls, should not be 
confounded with the natural process of moulting. In this 
diseased state, no new feathers come to replace the old, but 
the fowl is left bald and naked ; a sort of roughness also 
appears on the skin ; there is. a falling off in appetite, as well 
as moping and inactivity. 

Treatment. — As this affection is, in all probability, con- 
stitutional rather than local, external remedies may not 
always prove sufficient. Stimulants, however, applied exter- 
nally, will serve to assist the operation of whatever medicine 
may be given. Sulphur may be thus applied, mixed with 
lard. Sulphur and cayenne, in the proportion of one quarter 
each, mixed with fresh butter, is good to be given internally, 
and will act as a powerful alterative. The diet should be 
changed ; and cleanliness and fresh air are indispensable. 

In diseased moulting, where the feathers start and fall off, 
till the naked skin appears, sugar should be added to the 
water which the fowls drink, and corn and hemp-seed be 
given. They should be kept warm, and occasionally be 
treated to doses of cayenne pepper. 



674 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Pip. 

This disorder, known also as the gapes, is the most com- 
mon ailment of poultry and all domestic birds. It is espe- 
cially the disease of young fowls, and is most prevalent in 
the hottest months, being not only troublesome but fre- 
quently fatal. 

As to its cause and nature, there has been some diversity 
of opinion. Some consider it a catarrhal inflammation, 
which produces a thickening of the membrane lining the 
nostrils and mouth, and particularly the tongue ; others 
assert that it is caused by want of water, or by bad water ; 
while others describe it as commencing in the form of a vesi- 
cle on the tip of the tongue, which occasions a thickened 
state of the skin, by the absorption of its contents. The 
better opinion, however, is, that the disease is occasioned by 
the presence of worms, or fasciolce, in the windpipe. On 
the dissection of chickens dying with this disorder, the wind- 
pipe will be found to contain numerous small, red worms, 
about the size of a cambric needle, which, at the first glance, 
might be mistaken for blood-vessels. It is supposed by 
some that these worms continue to grow, until, by their 
enlargement, the windpipe is so filled up that the chicken is 
suffocated. 

The common symptoms of this malady are the thickened 
state of the membrane of the tongue, particularly toward the 
tip ; the breathing is impeded, and the beak is frequently 
held open, as if the creature was gasping for breath ; the 
beak becomes yellow at its base ; and the feathers on the 
head appear ruffled and disordered ; the tongue is very dry ; 
the appetite is not always impaired ; but yet the fowl 
cannot eat, probably on account of the difficulty which the 
act involves, and sits in a corner, pining in solitude. 

Treatment. — Most recommend the immediate removal of 
the thickened membrane, which can be effected by anointing 
the part with butter or fresh cream. If necessary, the scab 



POULTRV. 675 

may be pricked with a needle. It will also be found bene- 
ficial to use a pill, composed of equal parts of scraped garlic 
and horse-radish, with as much cayenne pepper as will out- 
weigh a grain of wheat ; to be mixed with fresh butter, and 
given every morning ; the fowl to be kept warm. 

If the disease is in an advanced state, shown by the 
chicken's holding up its head and gaping for want of breath, 
the fowl should be thrown on its back, and while the neck is 
held straight, the bill should be opened, and a quill inserted 
into the windpipe, with a little turpentine. This being round, 
will loosen and destroy a number of small, red worms, some 
of -which will be drawn up by the feather, and others will be 
coughed up by the chicken. The operation should be 
repeated the following day, if the gaping continues. If it 
ceases, the cure is effected. 

It is stated, also, that the disease has been entirely pre- 
vented by mixing a small quantity of spirits of turpentine 
with the food of fowls ; from five to ten drops, to a pint of 
meal, to be made into dough. Another specific recom- 
mended is to keep iron standing in vinegar, and put a little 
of the liquid in the food every few days. 

Some assert that it is promoted by simply scanting fowls 
in their food ; and this upon the ground that chickens which 
are not confined with the hen, but both suffered to run at 
large and collect their own food, are not troubled with this 
disease. There can be little doubt that it is caused by irfat- 
tention to cleanliness in the habits and lodgings of fowls ; 
and some, therefore, think that if the chicken-houses and 
coops are kept clean, and frequently washed with thin white- 
wash, having plenty of salt and brine mixed with it, that it 
would be eradicated. 

Roup. 

This disease is caused mainly by cold and moisture ; but 
it is often ascribed to improper feeding and want of cleanli- 



6'j6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ness and exercise. It affects fowls of all ages, and is either 
acute or chronic ; sometimes commencing suddenly, on 
exposure ; at others gradually, as the consequence of neg- 
lected colds, or damp weather or lodging. Chronic roup has 
been known to extend through two years. 

The most prominent symptoms are difficult and noisy 
breathing and gaping, terminating in a rattling in the throat ; 
the head swells, and is feverish ; the eyes are swollen, and 
the eye-lids appear livid ; the sight decays, and sometimes 
total blindness ensues ; there are discharges from the nostrils 
and mouth, at first thin and limpid, afterward thick, purulent, 
and fetid. In this stage, which resembles the glanders in 
horses, the disease becomes infectious. 

As secondary symptoms, it may be noticed that the appe- 
tite fails, except for drink ; the crop feels hard ; the feathers 
are staring, ruffled, and without the gloss that appears in 
health ; the fowl mopes by itself and seems to suffer much 
pain. 

Treatment. — The fowls should be kept warm, and have 
plenty of water and scalded bran, or other light food. When 
chronic, change of food and air is advisable. The ordinary 
remedies — such as salt dissolved in water— -are inefficacious. 
A solution of sulphate of zinc, as an eye-water, is a valuable 
cleansing application. Rue-pills, and a decoction of rue, as a 
tonic, have been administered with apparent benefit. 

The following is recommended : of powdered gentian and 
Jamaica ginger, each one part ; Epsom salts, one and a half 
parts ; and flour of sulphur, one part ; to -be made up with 
butter, and given every morning. 

The following method of treatment is practiced by some 
of the most successful poulterers in the country. As soon as 
discovered, if in warm weather, remove the infected fowls to 
some well-ventilated apartment, or yard ; if in winter, to 
some warm place ; then give a dessert-spoonful of castor-oil ; 
wash their heads with warm castile-soap suds, and let them 
remain till next morning fasting. Scald for them Indian meal, 



POULTRY. 



677 



adding two and a half ounces of Epsom salts for ten hens, or 
in proportion for a less or larger number ; give it warm, and 
repeat the dose in a day or two, if they do not recover. 

Perhaps, however, the best mode of dealing with roup and 
all putrid affections is as follows : Take of finely pulverized, 
fresh-burnt charcoal, and of new yeast, each three parts ; of 
pulverized sulphur, two parts ; of flour, one part ; of water, a 
sufficient quantity ; mix well, and make into two doses, of the 
size of a hazel nut, and give one three times a day. Clean- 
liness is no less necessary than warmth ; and it will sometimes 
be desirable to bathe the eyes and nostrils with warm milk 
and water, or suds, as convenient. 




Tbg Rursgry kud SiGR-Reem. 



To Preserve Health and Save Doctor's Bills. 



't ifHE preservation of health is of far greater importance 
s-^ than to dose a man after he is sick. To gratify " a false 
hunger, " or slake " a false thirst, " are only provocative to 
disease. It should be remembered that we live not by what 
we eat, but by what we digest. Neither Walpole, who 
thought that with diet and patience all diseases might be 
cured ; nor Montesquieu, who held that health, purchased by 
vigorously watching over diet, was but a tedious disease, was 
far from the mark. But a wise discretion in eating is better 
than all. 

Heed the Stomach. — " What is one man's meat is another 
man's poison," is an old saying, and a true one. If every 
person would study his own individual powers, and learn to 
respect his stomach, to remember that he has no more right 
to overload it with improper food than he has to drink to 
intoxication, he would save himself many an unnecessary 
ache and ailment. Chronic dyspepsia never came of regular 
occupation, abundant exercise, early hours, and generous, 
but not imprudent diet. If you wake in the morning with a 
headache and lassitude, you have probably not taken the 
advice of the "self-monitor," which has its home in the 
stomach. 

Conform to Nature. — Dean Nowell, although he may 
have blazed the way for red noses, did not grow strong by 
drinking ale. The Rajpoots who slay infants from pride do 
not kill so many infants as do Christian mothers with too 
much stuffing. The Bolton ass did not become fleet-footed 
by chewing tobacco and taking snufif. The New Zealand 
warriors were not made stout nor brave because their moth- 

678 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 679 

ers thrust stones in their stomachs, as infants. And 
Brantome's uncle, who took gold, steel and iron in powders, 
from weaning-time until twelve years of age, did not thereby 
acquire the strength to stop " a wild bull in full course." 

Study and Relaxation. 



Do not drive your children to study too young. From 
six to eight years is early enough for regular school-going. 
Of course their education begins as soon as they' begin to 
notice things and run about — in object-lessons and toy 
instructors, lettered blocks, etc. ; but they should not really 
be put to school before the age mentioned, and not thus 
early if they languish under study. Until a child is ten years 
old regular study should not be permitted. It must be more 
play than study. Then, the wise teacher, up to the age of 
twelve, will mix plenty of play with study. From this time 
on the study may be more and more continued ; but no 
labor, except a few light chores, should be included. Out 
of school hours let the child have play. Labor, however 
light, does not stand the child instead of pJay. "All work 
and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Hard study, with little 
exercise, fills the graveyard with young bones. The mid- 
night lamp nourishes the mature man's mind ; but dreamless 
sleep for the youth makes a healthy brain. 

The Sick-room. 



Cheerfulness ana Quiet. — In the sick-room there should 
be no unnecessary noise, and, above all, no confusion. 
Neither should there be " solemn silence." Some cheerful 
conversation is often better than medicine. In any event, 
never allow a friend with long-drawn, solemn face, or a pro- 
cession of them, to walk in, and, with a shake of the head, 
after gazing, to walk out again. Because a person is ill — 



68o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

even dangerously so — there is no reason why the nurse or 
visitors should carry on their faces the you-will-never-get- 
well look. It would dishearten any invalid that it did not 
exasperate, and neither disheartenment nor exasperation is 
good for the sick, even though it be said that when the sick 
are "strong enough to get mad," they are "strong enough 
to get well." 

The Nurse. — The nurse shoiild be soft-handed, deft in 
her work, of cheerful disposition, even-tempered, and, above 
all, intelligent. She should have delicate tact in cooking, 
for while every operation of cooking be cleanly in the 
extreme, here the cooking, while simple, should be delicate. 
The beef tea must be pleasing to the eye as well as grate- 
ful to the palate. The steak or chops should be tender and 
cooked to a turn. The ^g^ should be so boiled or 
poached as to be good to look at. Some tempting, simple, 
easily digested pudding, that comes as a surprise, is ten 
times more grateful than if the patient has been promised it, 
and then given the impatience of longingly waiting for it. 
A simple drink of water, if fresh from the well or spring, is 
always welcome ; however pure it may be, it is nauseous if 
it has stood in the room until warm. It is all these little 
things, these attentions, that mark the careful from the care- 
less nurse. In fact, no person should undertake the office of 
nurse unless loving kindness and self-abnegation are strong 
personal traits. With members of a family, these feelings 
are, of course, present. Happy is the patient who can 
always command such service. 

In severe sickness, it is the physician, his medicines, and 
the soothing offices of the nurse, that bring the patient 
through. Here fully as much depends upon the nurse as 
upon the doctor. A time comes when no longer medicine 
but food is needed. With convalescence it is the cook who 
takes the place of the doctor, and here the nurse's best 
efforts are shown. 

Weak Patients. — Very weak patients must be rallied; 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 68 1 

Stimulants may be necessary. There may be a nervous dif- 
ficulty in swallowing ; the nurse should keep her wits about 
her. The physician may have ordered a fixed quantity, say 
a teacupful of some liquid food every three or four hours ; 
the .patient's stomach rejects it. Will the nurse follow the 
given rule? No. She will try a single tablespoonful, once 
an hour, or even a teaspoonful every fifteen minutes. Per- 
haps a stimulant is necessary. These are things — the 
knowledge of them — that every nurse should inform her- 
self upon and be ready to act upon. 

Cookery for Invalids. 



General Rules. — In addition to what has just been said, 
it is only necessary to give the following: 

1. There must be no smoke for broiling. 

2. All soups should be made with the most gentle sim- 
mering. 

3. All fruits and vegetables must be perfectly fresh. 

4. An hour before cooking vegetables, put them in cold 
water to which a little salt has been added to free them 
from any possible insects. Wash clean, drain, and drop 
into water that is boiling fast. Take them from the water 
and drain the instant they are done. 

These general directions relating to cookin j will suffice 
as to the processes in invalid cookery. Some special 
recipes for dishes palatable and wholesome will be given 
presently. These will, of course, consist of the most simple 
dishes, not highly seasoned or spiced. 

Table of Foods and Time of Digestion. 



The table given below is compiled to show the average 
time required for the digestion of different foods, but of 
course it is only approximate, since in the real digestion of 



682 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

foods no two systems will act precisely alike. The result 
will perhaps surprise many persons, who have been led into 
error in the supposed dig^estibility of certain foods. For 
instance, oysters are generally supposed to be among the 
most easily digested of foods. They are not even approxi- 
mately so, except when eaten raw. Roast goose is by many 
supposed to digest slowly, but this is a great mistake. 



AVERAGE TIME FOR DIGESTION. 

Name of Article. Hrs. Min. 

Apples, sweet - --i 30 

Apples, sour ----------- 2 00 

Beans, green in pod, boiled -..---. 2 30 

Beef, fresh, roasted rare - - ----- 3 00 

Beef, fresh, broiled --------- 3 00 

Beef, fresh, dried ---------- 3 30 

Beef, fresh, fried -------.--4 00 

Beets, boiled -----------3 45 

Bread, wheat, fresh - - 3 30 

Bread, corn ---.--------3 15 

Butter, melted - - - - 3 30 

Cabbage, with vinegar, raw ------ 2 00 

Cabbage, boiled ---------- 4 30 

Cheese, strong old --------- 3 30 

Codfish -------------2* 00 

Custard, baked ---------- 2 45 

Ducks, tame, roasted -------- 4 00 

Ducks, wild ------ 4 30 

Eggs, boiled hard - - - 3 3° 

Eggs, boiled soft ---------- 3 30 

Eggs, fried ------------ 3 30 

Goose, roast ---- -2 00 

Lamb, fresh, broiled --------- 2 30 

Liver, beef, broiled - - - 2 00 

Liver, beef, fried ---------- 2 30 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 683 

Names of Articles. Hrs. Min. 

Milk, boiled ----------- 2 00 

Milk, uncooked ---.------ 2 15 

Parsnips, boiled ---------- 2 20 

Mutton, roast ----------- 3 ^5 

Mutton broiled ---------- 3 0° 

Mutton, boiled ----------- 3 00 

Oysters, raw ---------- 2 55 

Oysters, roast ----------- t, 15 

Oysters, stewed ---------- 3 2P 

Pork, fresh, fat, and lean, roast ----- 5 ^5 

Pork, corned, boiled ---------3 15 

Pork, corned, raw ---------- 3 00 

Potatoes, boiled ---------- 3 3° 

Potatoes, baked ---------- 2 30 

Rice, boiled ----------- i 00 

Sago, boiled -----------i 45 

Salmon, salted, boiled -------- 4 00 

Soup, beef and vegetable ------- 4 00 

Soup, chicken ------ ----- 3 0° 

Soup, oyster ----------- 3 3° 

Tapioca, boiled ---------- 2 00 

Tripe, soused, boiled --------- i 00 

Trout, fresh, broiled, or fried ------ i 40 

Turkey, tame, roast --------- 2 00 

Turkey, wild, roast --------- 2 15 

Turnips, boiled ---------- 7> 2P 

Veal, fresh, broiled --------- 4 00 

Veal, fresh, fried ---------- 4 3° 

Venison, broiled ---------- i 35 



Scarlet Fever. 



This disease, technically called scarlatina, is distinguished 
by a great diversity of symptoms as well as by varying 



684 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

degrees of severity. The mildest form is comparatively 
trivial in its effects upon the individual, while its severest 
form is one of the most destructive diseases with which we 
are acquainted. Physicians generally distinguish for con- 
venience three varieties of the disease, according to the 
degree of severity, and to the amount of complication in the 
throat. These varieties are called scarlatina simplex, scarla- 
tina anginosa, and scarlatina maligna. It must be under- 
stood, however, that these are not distinct diseases, but 
merely convenient terms for the designation of different 
manifestations of the same disease. 

Cause. — Scarlatina, like the other infectious diseases, is 
due to a specific virus of poison, as to the exact nature of 
which we are not yet informed. Like the other infectious 
diseases, it seems to arise only by communication from 
individuals who are already afflicted. Some cases, it is true, 
cannot be traced to contagion, but seem to arise quite 
spontaneously, without previous exposure to the disease ; 
but it must be remembered that scarlet fever, like small-pox, 
can be communicated by articles of clothing or of furniture 
which have once been impregnated with the virus. Yet it 
by no means follows that exposure to the contagion will 
induce the disease. This general principle is applicable, of 
course, to all infectious diseases. There must be not only 
exposure to contagion, but also a certain susceptibility on the 
part of the exposed individual, in order that the disease may 
be developed. Yet the susceptibility to scarlet fever seems 
to be less general than in any other of the infectious 
diseases ; for it is no uncommon observation that several of 
the children, even in the same family, who are exposed at 
the same time to the scarlet fever contagion, escape the 
disease. Indeed, it is even observed that while one child in 
a family suffers from the disease, others living in the same 
house during the entire illness of the first, escape completely. 
Such facts as these have caused some physicians to doubt 
the contagiousness of scarlet fever. But it must be 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 68$ 

remembered that there is precisely the same ground for 
doubting' the contagiousness of any other infectious disease, 
since similar facts, not perhaps so numerous, can be adduced 
in regard to each. The specific virus of scarlatina, like that 
of certain other infectious diseases, retains its power of 
inducing the disease for months, and may be transferred in 
the clothes of the attendants or visitors. 

The disease rarely occurs twice in the same individual, 
although such repetition is more frequent in the case of scar- 
let fever than of most of the other infectious diseases ; in- 
stances are known in which the same individual has suffered 
even three times from scarlet fever. The disease occurs 
most frequently in the third and fourth years of life ; the sus- 
ceptibility to it seems to decrease rapidly after the fifth year, 
and almost subsides in adult life. During the first and second 
years also the susceptibility seems to be slight, for cases in 
children of that age are certainly rare. Instances are re- 
ported in which the foetus has contracted the disease before 
birth, though such cases are certainly far less numerous than 
the analogous ones of small-pox. 

Symptoms. — The period of incubation, so-called — that 
is, the interval between exposure and the first manifestation 
of the disease — is shorter in scarlet fever than in most of 
the eruptive fevers. It is usually stated at two to five days, 
though it seems to vary between one and six days. At this 
interval after exposure, there commonly occurs a pronounced 
chill, which may, however, be absent. Another symptom is 
usually vomiting, a symptom rarely absent in children. The 
child, in many cases, complains of soreness of the throat and 
pain upon swallowing, though it is a by no means constant 
symptom. When it does occur, there is usually also consid- 
erable reddening of the inside of the throat, and swelling of 
the glands at the angle of the jaw. The other symptoms 
vary with the intensity of the attack. In some, there is 
intense fever, headache, and general prostration, perhaps 
even delirium ; on the other hand, there may be no indica- 
tion of constitutional affection, except slight fever. 



686 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

This Stage of invasion usually lasts only twenty-four, or, 
at most, forty-eight hours. On the second day there ap- 
pears, usually first on the body and limbs, rapidly extending 
over the entire surface, a brilliant scarlet rash. While this 
is the usual order of its occurrence, it sometimes happens 
that the rash will be first perceptible on the face and neck. 
It consists at first of minute red specks or dots, which soon 
run together, forming irregular shaped patches ; yet even in 
these patches, it can be seen, upon close inspection, that the 
redness is not uniform and continuous, but is made up of a 
mass of minute points of a deep-red color, while the inter- 
vening skin is tinged less intensely red. The color disap- 
pears upon pressure with the finger, and white lines may be 
made by drawing a pencil or finger-nail over the surface. 
The redness is usually most intense and persistent on those 
parts where the skin is especially thin and delicate — along 
the inner surface of the arms and legs and at the elbow. In 
some instances the entire surface is continuously red, pro- 
ducing the appearance which has been likened to that of a 
boiled lobster. The surface is usually smooth, but may 
cause a feeling of minute elevations. Sometimes very small 
watery blisters may be scattered over the skin. 

The patient is usually annoyed by a general itching 
sensation which may amount even to positive pain ; the skin 
is somewhat swollen, a condition which becomes evident 
when the patient attempts to close the hands, or places the 
feet upon the floor. Just as there are great differences in the 
intensity of the skin eruptions, so the soreness of the throat 
may vary extremely; at times the entire difficulty seems 
to be concentrated in the throat. In all cases, probably, 
there is more or less swelling of the tonsils, and usually a 
whitish deposit upon their surface ; in the severer cases the 
swelling in the throat becomes so great as to prevent the 
patient from swallowing anything but liquids, and even to 
interfere seriously with breathing, so that the voice acquires 
a nasal twang. Sometimes there is an escape of blood into 
and on the surface of the throat. 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 68/ 

The tongue usually presents certain characteristic appear- 
ances in scarlet fever ; it is often sprinkled over with project- 
ing red points, looking as if it had been dusted with red 
sand. Later the coating of the tonoue is cast off, leaving its 
surface clean and red, the points above described now pro- 
jecting so as to resemble the appearance of a strawberry; 
hence the name strawberry tongue, an appearance quite 
characteristic of this disease. 

In scarlet fever the appearance of the eruption is not 
accompanied as in small-pox by a cessation of the fever ; on 
the contrary the constitutional symptoms are often increased ; 
the degree of fever is more intense during the eruptive stage 
of scarlet fever than in any of the other eruptive fevers. 
During this stage, too, the most serious mental and constitu- 
tional symptoms occur ; delirium is usual, and convulsions 
(in children) very common ; hence the greatest care is 
required on the part of the attendants, since patients not 
infrequently injure themselves, even precipitate themselves 
from windows during such delirium. 

The eruption ordinarily lasts four to six days, though 
here, too, variations occur. Of fifty-four cases reported by 
Jenner, the rash disappeared on the fifth day of the disease in 
one case; in three cases on the sixth, day; in five cases on 
the seventh day; in thirteen cases on the eighth day; in 
twelve cases on the ninth day; in eight on the tenth ; in 
four on the eleventh, and in two on the thirteenth, four- 
teenth and sixteenth day, respectively. 

Stage of Desquamation. — About the sixth day the rash 
begins to fade, and in the succeeding days the surface of the 
skin is cast off in the shape of scales, usually of small size, 
like bran, though some times in large pieces ; indeed the 
entire skin of a finger of a hand may be cast off entire like 
the finger of a glove. This desquamation may last from six 
to twelve days, or may not be finished for several weeks. 

Such is the history of an ordinary mild case of scarlet 
fever without complications ; yet a large number of cases, 



6S8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

whether mild or severe during the original disease, are 
accompanied by complications which are often more serious 
in the permanence of their effects than any feature of the dis- 
ease itself. Among these complications are serious affections 
of the throat. These are so common that one variety of the 
disease has been accordingly named scarlatina anginosa. In 
these cases (which are probably sometimes considered diph- 
therial the swellinof and ulceration in the throat and the 
consequent interference with respiration are so great as to 
concentrate the attention upon this part of the body. The 
rash is usually slight, and may be overlooked. The tonsils 
become enormously enlarged, ulcerated, covered with a 
brown film or false membrane, and often produce a great 
amount of matter ; in these cases the glands around the 
angle of the jaw are greatly enlarged and sometimes become 
abcesses, which either break spontaneously or are opened. 
Another complication, especially apt to occur in these cases 
of severe sore throat, is deafness, partial or complete. The 
reason for this lies in the fact that the cavity of the ear is 
connected with the throat by means of a bony channel called 
the eustachian tube. The inflammation may, and frequently 
does, spread from the throat into and through this tube into 
the middle ear; the result is the formation of matter — an 
abscess — in the ear and the consequent loss of hearing. In 
some cases there may be recovery of a certain amount of 
hearing even after suppuration has occurred in the ear. 
Sometimes the local disease in the throat is so violent as to 
cause extensive mortification of these structures — sloughing 
— and this may extend even to the mouth. Then, again, a 
severe inflammation of the larynx (the upper part of the 
windpipe) may cause speedy death. Sometimes, too, the 
membrane surrounding the brain, and even this organ itself, 
becomes inflamed, resulting in more or less permanent 
derancfements of the mental functions. From the same 
cause paralysis of the face or of the limbs may follow. Some- 
times, too, affections of the eyes, resulting in serious 
impairment of vision, are observed. 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 689 

But one of the most frequent and serious complications 
of scarlet fever is inflammation of the kidneys. It would 
seem, indeed, that this should be regarded almost as an 
essential part of the disease, though in a considerable num- 
ber of cases the kidneys resume their natural state soon 
after the fever subsides. The complication with inflamma- 
tion of the kidneys is indicated by swelling of the skin — 
dropsy — usually first noticed under the eyes, and then 
spreading over the face, trunk and extremities. A certain 
amount of dropsy is a usual feature in all but the mildest 
cases of scarlet fever, and it is often one of the last symp- 
toms to disappear. But a dropsy which persists for some 
time after recovery usually indicates serious inflammation 
of the kidneys. This inflammation may exist without 
noticeable dropsy, and can be, under these circumstances, 
detected only by an examination of the urine, microscopical 
as well as chemical. In every case of scarlet fever the 
physician should acquaint himself by frequent examination 
of the urine as to the condition of the kidneys; for, though 
everything else may go on well, the patient may succumb 
to this kidney disease even at a time when convalescence 
seems at hand. In every case in which, after the appear- 
ance of the eruption, the patient has repeated convulsions, 
or lies stupid and unconscious, the condition of the kidneys 
may afford a key to the situation. 



Diphtheria. 



One of the most frequent and important affections, next 
to the essential fevers, is diphtheria. This disease prevails 
often as an epidemic, and in the intervals between these 
epidemics is always more or less prevalent. Unlike many 
of the infectious diseases, it seems to be independent of 
ordinary hygienic regulations — attacks all classes of the 
community, and at all times of the year. It is supposed 



690 THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 

that Washington and the Empress Josephine were among- its 
victims during epidemics. 

While the disease may occur quite unexpectedly, yet it 
is equally certain that a large number, if not the majority, of 
cases designated diphtheria by some physicians, as well as 
the non-professional, have no right whatsoever to that name. 
For diphtheria is a general, a constitutional affection, usually 
manifesting itself, it is true, by inflammation in the throat, 
among other symptoms, but by no means comprised in a 
local inflammation, whether in the throat or elsewhere. The 
numerous cases in which the throat is red and sore, and 
perhaps a few whitish points are visible on the tonsils — 
such cases are not necessarily diphtheria, and in fact have 
rarely any of the characteristic signs of diphtheria. There 
may be, it is true, mild cases of the disease, in which the 
constitutional symptoms are not sufficiently severe to invalid 
the patient completely ; yet in most instances, even when 
the local disturbances in the throat are not severe, the patient 
is nevertheless unquestionably ill. 

Syi)ipto»is. — The symptoms of diphtheria, while agreeing 
in most essentials, present wide diversities in the degree of 
those features. One of these differences occurs in the 
development of disease. Sometimes the onset is very 
rapid and acute; the patient suffers a severe chill, followed 
at once by a high fever. In other cases, again, the com- 
mencement is gradual and insidious ; the patient complains 
for some days or a week of vague and indefinite illness, 
perhaps even without alluding to any unusual soreness in 
the throat. It may even happen that the discovery of the 
throat affection is made accidently, especially in the case of 
children. The consideration of the symptoms may be, for 
convenience, divided into those which affect the system 
generally, and those which are associated immediately with 
the inflammation in the throat. 

The sensibility of the throat would seem to be somewhat 
diminished in this disease, since there is rarely so much pain 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 69 1 

and soreness as would seem inseparable from the extreme 
swelling and inflammation that are seen actually to exist. A 
point which should never be forgotten in household practice 
is to inspect the throat whenever an individual is suff"ering 
from any indefinite ailment ; if this were a more general 
practice, mothers would often be spared the surprise and 
chagrin which occurs when, upon the first visit of the physi- 
cian, he discovers in the throat of the child, who may have 
been ill several days, a thick, white coating of diphtheritic 
membrane. The act of swallowing is sometimes accompa- 
nied with considerable pain, but not necessarily so, even 
though the throat be considerably inflamed. Another symp- 
tom which may be present early in the disease is a paralysis 
of certain muscles concerned in swallowing, so that this act 
is but imperfectly performed ; as a result fluids return 
through the nostrils. In these cases there may also be an 
acrid discharge from the nose, causing soreness of the 
adjacent parts of the skin. Then, again, the simple mechan- 
ical effect of the swelling in the throat may interfere seri- 
ously with swallowing, and even breathing. 

Although the local affection is usually manifested first, 
and chiefly in the throat, yet it is not necessarily limited to 
this part of the body, but may extend also into the larynx. 
Under these circumstances, the symptoms of true croup are 
added to those of diphtheria. Weakness of the voice, a 
peculiar character of the tone, difficult, labored and audible 
respiration, with the characteristic " croupy " cough, mark 
the spread of the disease to the larynx. This, however, is 
not an extremely common complication ; many symptoms 
indicating difficult respiration may be caused by the swelling 
in the throat, without any interference with the larynx. For 
diphtheria proper is entirely distinct from croup in the loca- 
tion of the throat inflammation, as well as in its essential 
nature. 

As has been said, there are mild cases in which the 
patient is scarcely compelled to take his bed ; yet the gravity 



692 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of the case is not always indicated by its severity at the 
outset. There is not usually so high a grade of fever as 
characterizes scarlet fever; at times, indeed,.the skin seems 
only naturally warm to the hand. An occasional symptom 
is the rupture of small blood vessels, causing reddish spots 
on the skin ; a similar rupture in the vessels of the nose 
accounts for the bleeding from the nostrils which is some- 
times observed. There is no skin eruption characteristic of 
diphtheria, although various forms of rash not infrequently 
occur during the course of the disease. 

The digestion is quite deranged, even before the swelling 
of the throat makes swallowing difficult. This derangement 
of digestion is indicated, as in other constitutional diseases, 
by loss of appetite, coating of the tongue, often vomiting. 
This is a symptom of considerable practical importance and 
gravity, for it interferes seriously with the success of efforts 
for sustaining the patient's strength, and in probably no other 
disease is his strength so soon exhausted as in diphtheria. 
The mind is not usually affected unless the case terminate 
fatally. In children, it is true, convulsions occur, as they 
may from other causes, even when slight. Dropsy, so fre- 
quent in scarlatina, is an unusual symptom of diphtheria. 

The disease may last one to two weeks, before the patient 
begins to convalesce. Fatal cases may, of course, terminates 
much sooner. There is a malignant form of diphtheria 
which, like malignant scarlet fever, may destroy the patient's 
life before the characteristic symptoms of the disease are 
manifested. Yet diphtheria is by no means over when the 
patient begins to convalesce, since some of the numerous 
complications may seriously impair his health for months 
subsequently. 

Perhaps no other of the infectious diseases brings in its 
train such a number and variety of complications as diph- 
theria. First of all is the paralysis of the muscles concerned 
in swallowing and in articulation. These muscles may not 
be affected until the severer symptoms of the disease have 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 693 

subsided ; and they may recover their power within a few 
weeks ; so long as the difficulty endures, there will be diffi- 
culty in swallowing ; and fatal accidents have been known to 
occur from this very cause^the food passing into the wind- 
pipe and causing strangulation. Sometimes it is even neces- 
sary to feed the patient through a stomach-tube. The 
paralysis may also affect other muscles than those engaged 
in swallowing ; the muscles of the eye are occasionally 
affected, the iris being paralyzed so as to keep the pupils 
dilated. The result is that the patient is unable to read 
ordinary print, becomes, in fact, far-sighted ; then again the 
arms or legs — often the latter — may exhibit partial or com- 
plete paralysis. There may be impairment of sensation also, 
as well as of motion ; that is, the power of feeling may be 
partly or completely lost. This loss is usually limited to a 
portion of the face ; or there may be loss of power to per- 
ceive light ; there may be also a change in direction of one 
or both eyes — the individual is, in other words, cross-eyed. 
So, too, the muscles concerned in breathing may become 
paralyzed, giving rise to difficulty in the performance of this 
act, and even causing danger from the failure to breathe. 
There may be also impairment of the muscles concerned in 
the evacuation of the bowels and bladder ; also impairment 
of sexual power and instinct. 

The characteristic feature of diphtheria, by which alone 
we are enabled to express a positive opinion as to its nature, 
is the peculiarity of the local inflammation ; this, it is true, is 
usually found in the throat, but not necessarily so, since we 
recognize as diphtheria cases in which the same local inflam- 
mation is found on other mucous membranes, those of the 
intestine and of the female genital organs especially. As 
seen in the throat, the first appearance is usually redness, 
accompanied by swelling of the tonsils ; the surface of these 
is soon covered with a thin grayish substance, which, in the 
course of a day or two, is much increased in thickness and 
becomes white or ash-colored. This substance — the diph- 



694 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

theritic membrane — varies much in its extent and location. 
In bad cases it forms an almost unbroken sheet over the 
tonsils and perhaps on the back of the throat as well ; but in 
most instances it appears merely in small patches scattered 
over the tonsils and back part of the mouth and pharynx. 
The gray membrane is surrounded by an intensely red area. 
When these gray patches are detached there appears to be a 
bright red surface with numerous bleeding points. Further- 
more, the detachment of one layer may be followed by the 
formation of a second and even of a third membrane on the 
same spot. In this characteristic — the bleeding surface 
upon gentle removal of the membrane — is found one of the 
characteristics of the diphtheritic as distinguished from other 
gray patches in the throat. It is no uncommon thing to find, 
even in healthy throats, and especially in those subject to a 
little catarrh, grayish white spots, particularly on the surface 
of the tonsils. These should not be mistaken for diphthe- 
ritic membrane ; they are not surrounded by the intensely 
red area, they do not cling to the surface with the same 
tenacity, nor do they leave, when detached, a bleeding sur- 
face. These are the cases which are so often miscalled 
diphtheria. 

The true diphtheria is usually accompanied by swelling 
of the glands at the angle of the jaw ; this swelling may 
subside with the affection in the throat, or may result in the 
formation of abscesses. 

Cause. — Like the other infectious diseases, diphtheria is 
due to a specific virus or poison ; that it is eminently com- 
municable, admits of no doubt, though it seems, with our 
present knowledge, that it may also originate without pre- 
vious exposure of the individual to a patient suffering from 
the disease. The malignant form of diphtheria occurs espe- 
cially as an epidemic. It is an interesting fact, that these 
epidemics were unknown in America between 1771 and 1856, 
while since this latter date they have frequently visited all 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 695 

parts 01 our land. Such an epidemic is often restricted to a 
particular section of country ; it may even prevail on one bank 
of a stream, while the other side escapes unvisited. The 
greatest susceptibility to the disease appears to be childhood, 
between three and twelve years especially ; yet people of all 
ages are susceptible to a greater or less extent. 

The chances for recovery from diphtheria vary extremely 
with many circumstances. The scattered, so-called sporadic, 
cases are attended with far less mortality than the average 
epidemic. One of the dangers is from an extension of the 
inflammation to the larynx ; such cases usually terminate 
fatally. A second peril is from exhaustion ; in some instances, 
as has been already narrated, death occurs within a day or 
two, before the local effects of the disease have been mani- 
fested in the throat. Such cases evidently die overwhelmed 
with the violence of the poison ; and many other instances 
occur in which the patient, though resisting for days the onset 
of the disease, finally succumbs before the condition of his 
throat is such as to imperil life. A third danger is one which 
cannot be foreseen, and scarcely explained, that is, sudden 
fainting, from which the patient cannot be aroused ; this has 
repeatedly occurred in individuals who were apparently con- 
valescent, but who, upon some unusual effort, even getting 
out of bed, have swooned and died. In view of this fact, it 
is important to use especial care during the convalescence 
from diphtheria, particularly in those who have suffered fr9m 
severe attacks. If death occurs from simple exhaustion, it is 
apt to happen during the second week of the disease. 

Treatment. — The treatment of diphtheria resolves itself 
into two chief aims : general treatment, that is the support 
of the patient's strength ; and local measures, to subdue and 
restrain the inflammation in the throat. For this latter 
purpose, measures vary according to the severity of the 
inflammation and to the effect upon the throat. It will rarely 
be advisable to use strong caustics ; in the most cases a 



696 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

gargle of some antiseptic properties will best answer the 
purpose. One of the best of them is the following: 

Hyposulphite of soda - - - Three ounces. 

Glycerine ----- Two ounces'. 

Water - . - - - gjx ounces. 

Half an ounce of this solution may be placed in a glass 
of water and used as a gargle at short intervals. If the 
patient be a child too young to gargle, this solution may be 
applied directly to the throat by means of a camel's hair 
brush. Much comfort and benefit will also be derived from 
permitting the patient to hold pieces of ice in the mouth 
until dissolved. Instead of the above solution, the familiar 
mixture of muriatic acid and honey in equal parts ; lime 
water ; carbolic acid (one part to twenty of water), may all 
be employed. If there be much difficulty in breathing, relief 
will be obtained by saturating the atmosphere of the room 
with steam ; or a tent may be made out of a sheet and 
placed around the bed ; a kettle of boiling water may be 
made to discharge its steam into this tent, and thus accom- 
plish the desired object. Cloths wrung out in hot water 
may also be applied to the neck. 

Yet the greater reliance must be placed upon the con- 
stitutional treatment, for whicli alcohol in some form is 
absolutely indispensable. There is but little danger of 
intoxicating the patient. Half an ounce of brandy may be 
given every hour to a patient twelve or thirteen years old, 
with the best results, if the case be one of extreme 
exhaustion. Another important agent is quinine, a grain of 
which may be administered in the whisky or brandy every 
hour or two during the day. If the patient be very young, 
say three or four years old, half a teaspoonful of brandy 
and a quarter of a grain of quinine would be a sufficient 
dose. Sometimes considerable difficulty is experienced in 
persuading the patient to take nourishment. The danger 
from this must be recognized and necessary measures 
employed to meet the requirements of the case. 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 697 

In cases where the larynx is obstructed by the formation 
of false membrane, the outlook is extremely serious; yet, 
even in these, it is sometimes possible to save the life appar- 
ently lost, by making an opening into the windpipe — an 
operation technically called tracheotomy — whereby the im- 
minent danger, suffocation, is the verdict. This fact is 
mentioned here, not because the operation should ever be 
undertaken by other than a skillful surgeon, but simply to 
emphasize the value of tracheotomy in proper cases. There 
are, it is true, instances in which the patient must eventually 
die of exhaustion, and the result could not be averted by 
the simple admission of air to the lungs. Yet it is equally 
true that there are many instances where death occurs from 
suffocation, and in which a timely performance of trache- 
otomy would undoubtedly have saved life, as it has done in 
numerous other instances. The difficulty lies in the fact 
that parents obstinately refuse to listen to any suggestion 
for the use of the knife until it becomes evident that the 
child must die, and then the operation is, of course, too 
late; and there is no doubt that the responsibility for many 
a child's death rests upon the unreasoning dread and preju- 
dice of the parent against an operation. 



Measles. 



The disease, also known as morbilli and rubeola, is of 
far less importance, with regard to the immediate danger to 
life, than either small-pox or scarlet fever ; and yet there so 
often follow in the train of measles complications which may 
have a permanent effect upon the health and vigor of the 
individual, that the disease is, nevertheless, one of consider- 
able importance to recognize measles because of the similarity 
of this disease with scarlet fever, and the consequent possi- 
bility of mistaking one for the other. 

The period of incubation — the interval between exposure 



698 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

and the onset of the symptoms — is from ten to fifteen 
days ; then occurs the stage of invasion. The onset of the 
disease resembles a severe cold or an attack of influenza. 
The individual sneezes repeatedly, and there is an acrid 
discharge from the nostrils ; the eyes are also usually 
inflamed, red and watery. There is also soreness of the 
throat, hoarseness, and a dry, painful cough. At the same 
time there is usually a chilly sensation, perhaps shivering, 
but rarely a distinct and pronounced chill. Then begins a 
fever, usually less intense than that of scarlet fever ; the 
appetite is impaired ; nausea and vomiting may occur ; 
there are wandering pains in various parts of the body, 
especially in the head and limbs ; there is general debility 
and languor. In children more marked symptoms, such as 
convulsions and bleeding at the nose, may occur ; some- 
times, too, the disease is ushered in with an attack of false 
croup. After a time, which varies somewhat, though 
averaging about four days from the beginning of the 
symptoms, there occurs the stage of eruption. The rash is 
usually seen on the forehead and temples, rapidly spreading 
over the face and neck. Within forty-eight hours the 
entire body and extremities are covered. It will be noticed, 
therefore, that the spread of the rash in measles is less 
rapid than in scarlet fever or small-pox. 

The rash begins with minute red specks similar to those 
of the scarlatinal rash, except that the color is a less intense 
red ; the rash of measles, moreover, is usually arranged in 
somewhat crescentic patches. The specks at this stage 
resemble the pimples of small-pox before the formation of 
vesicles, but they do not give that shot-like sensation to 
the finger ; they are more like flea-bites. The eruption is 
often attended, like that of scarlet fever, with considerable 
itching, and there may be some swelling of the skin, 
especially on the face. Sometimes a few vesicles may be 
observed among the dark-red patches. The fever continues 
until about the fourth day after the appearance of the rash, 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 699 

when both fever and eruption gradually disappear. The 
rash begins to fade where it began to appear — on the 
face. 

Most of the symptoms which were present before the 
appearance of the rash — the inflammation and discharge 
from the eyes, nose and throat — continue during the 
eruption. 

Stage of Desquamation. — The fading of the eruption 
and the scahng of the slcin occupy ordinarily four to eight 
days. The skin does not peel off to the same extent as in 
scarlet fever, the scales being always small and not patches. 
The fever which has persisted during the eruption now be- 
gins to decline, though the cough and inflammation in the 
eyes may continue for some days subsequently. 

Such is the history of an ordinary case of measles ; there 
are several variations from this type, and several complica- 
tions may aggravate the gravity of this disease. The affec- 
tions of the eyes, nose and bronchial tubes, though quite 
characteristic of this disease, are sometimes wanting ; and 
there are cases which are unmistakably measles, though the 
peculiar rash is but imperfectly developed. Sometimes, too, 
severe cases of measles, like those of scarlet fever, are char- 
acterized by the escape of blood from the blood-vessels into 
the skin, making diffuse dark-red patches. 

Among the complications which often follow measles are 
obstinate affections of the eye and of the larynx, and sevpre 
inflammation of the lungs ; somewhat less frequently there 
occur attacks of diphtheria and true croup. A possible com- 
plication also is deafness, originating in the same way as was 
described in connection with scarlet fever. 

The more important points distinguishing this disease 
from scarlet fever and small -pox are the length of the period 
of incubation, the long interval after the first symptoms 
before the rash appears, the affection of the eyes, nose and' 
air passages, the appearance of the eruption first on the face 
and its gradual extension over the body, the dark-red color 



700 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of the rash, and its arrangement in circular or crescent- 
shaped patches. Until the appearance of the rash, it is 
impossible to decide definitely upon the nature of the com- 
plaint, and hence, in those exceptional cases in which the 
rash does not appear, a definite diagnosis is almost impos- 
sible. 

Treatment. — The directions already given for the treat- 
ment of mild cases of scarlet fever apply equally well to 
measles, except that, in the latter complaint, there is rarely 
any necessity for local treatment of the throat. Sometimes 
it becomes necessary to make cold applications to the eyes, 
or to administer a few drops of paregoric for the cough. The 
usual indications for treatment consist in the complications 
already described. Only one requires especial notice here 
— the tendency to consumption, which seems to be conferred 
in some cases of this disease. This should be borne in mind 
in the after-treatment of measles. 



Diarrhea. 



Diarrhea is a symptom rather than a disease — a 
symptom of numerous disorders ; among them typhoid fever 
and cholera. Yet, aside from these cases, there occur 
numerous instances of diarrhea which appear to be largely 
local diseases of the intestines, and not dependent upon any 
constitutional disease. 

Symptoms. — The disorder is so familiar that no detailed 
account of symptoms is necessary. It is, however, import- 
ant to distinguish diarrhea from another disease characterized 
by frequent liquid stools — dysentery. In the latter affection 
there is an inflammation of the mucous membrance lining 
the intestinal canal ; and the discharges are usually mixed 
with blood and slime, and are attended with great pain. 

For convenience we may distinguish cases of diarrhea as 
acute and chronic. The acute diarrhea is familiar to us all 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 70I 

as the result of errors and indiscretions in diet, being pro- 
duced by excessive indulgence in food as well as by eating 
certain indigestible articles. This diarrhea is usually 
transient and subsides spontaneously in a few days. In 
such cases there should be no meddlinsf interference with 
the discharge, which is really Nature's effort to rid the 
stomach and intestines of irritating material. If at the end 
of a day or two the discharge continues to be profuse and 
frequent, the following prescription may be given : 

Aromatic syrup of rhubarb - Two ounces. 

Magnesia - . - . One drachm. 

Compound spirits of lavender - One drachm. 

Camphor, water - . . Each one ounce. 
Mix, and take half a teaspoonful every half hour. 

Diarrhea sometimes results not from indigestion, but 
mental emotion, or from exposure to cold. In these cases, 
also, the affection is usually cured spontaneously within a 
few days. 

The chronic forms of diarrhea are by no means so simple 
nor so easily managed as the acute form. A chronic 
diarrhea is in most cases a symptom of some serious dis- 
ease of the intestinal canal ; and the physician's tact and 
knowledge are tested to the uttermost to detect the origin 
of the difficulty. Sometimes the cause is to be found in a 
tuberculous condition of the intestines ; sometimes the 
difficulty lies in obstinate indigestion or dyspepsia ; at oth^r 
times the fault is to be found in disease of the liver, and 
still again cases occur in which inflammation of the kidney 
is responsible for the diarrhea. In fact a chronic diarrhea, 
notwithstanding its apparent simplicity as a disease, is one 
of the most troublesome and often intricate affections which 
the physician is called upon to treat. It will be, therefore, 
out of place to attempt a detailed account of the means for 
recognizing the various causes of diarrhea in the individual 
cases. 

Yet certain general measures will be found advantageous 
in all cases of chronic diarrhea, and may be mentioned here. 



702 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

In every case the regulation of the diet is a matter of import- 
ance, for persons often acquire improper habits of eating, 
the avoidance of which suffices in itself to cure the diarrhea. 
It will be well to keep the patient upon animal food largely, 
avoiding fresh fruits and vegetables. Milk, eggs and broth, 
re-enforced by rare meat and old bread, will be found most 
suitable, especially if taken in small quantities and at shorter 
intervals than usual. Starchy food may be allowed when 
properly cooked, as well as a moderate indulgence in ripe 
fruits. In this disease, too, attention should be directed to 
the teeth, since the difficulty may arise from imperfect 
mastication of the food. 

The medicines to be used vary extremely, according to 
the nature of the case ; some chronic cases of diarrhea, those 
especially which have originated during military life and are 
especially frequent among soldiers, have been cured by large 
doses of ipecac — twenty grains every four hours. This 
measure is not, however, to be adopted until milder ones have 
failed, since it causes profound nausea and vomiting. Various 
admixtures are found to be beneficial in different cases, 
among them the following : 

Camphor, - - - - 20 grains. 

Ipecac, - - - - - 

Opium, ----- Each six grains. 
Mix and make twelve pills. Take one every four hours ; or 

Prepared chalk, - - - One drachm. 

Tincture of kino, - - - Three ounces. 

Laudanum, . . . _ One ounce. 

White sugar, - - - - 

Gum arable, - - - - Each one drachm. 
Mix. Take a teaspoonful every three or four hours. 

In many cases the following combination will be effectual: 

Subnitrate of bismuth, - - Four drachms. 

Tannin, ----- Half a drachm. 

Ipecac, ----- Fifteen grains. 

Mix and make eight powders. Take one every two hours. 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 76$ 

A prescription commonly known as Hope's mixture is 
often beneficial ; it is made as follows : 

Nitric acid, . . - - Four drops. 

Laudanum, ... - One drachm. 

Camphor water, - - - Four ounces. 
Take a tablespoonful every two or three hours. 

In all cases of chronic diarrhea the patient should be 
extremely careful to protect himself against sudden changes 
of temperature, against wetting the feet, etc. He will find 
it advisable to be warmely clothed, even during the summer, 
and so long as the diarrhea is severe, to avoid unnecessary 
physical effort. 



Whooping-Cough. 



This affection is by many classed among nervous dis- 
eases, notwithstanding the apparently infectious nature of 
the complaint. The symptoms of whooping-cough are so 
familiar that no description is necessary. 

Treatme7it. — The paroxysms can usually be shortened 
by the use of emetics, which not only provoke vomiting but 
also loosen the phlegm. For this purpose, we may give a 
full dose of ipecac or squills. 

Aside from this measure, but little treatment seems ben- 
eficial. In fact the mild cases do best without medicine, if 
care be taken to avoid exposure to the cold and to wrap 
the body well in flannel under-clothing. 

To cut short the disease, a great many remedies have 
been administered ; the fact that these remedies are so 
numerous indicates that no one of them can be relied upon 
for all cases. Good results have been reported from the 
use of belladonna. The following mixture will be found of 
service : 

Extract of belladonna, - - - - One grain. 
Mucilage of gum arable, - - - - Two ounces. 



704 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Give twenty or thirty drops of this every three hours. 
We may also use to advantage the following prescription : 
Fluid extract of hyoscyamus, - - Half a drachm. 
Orange flower water, - - - - Four ounces. 
Mix and give a tablespoonful every three hours. This 
dose is suited to a child of twelve years, and must be 
correspondingly reduced for a younger child. 



Sunstroke. 



The term sunstroke is applied to a condition of nervous 
prostration induced by excessive heat. Although this con- 
dition may result from the heat of the sun, it may just as 
well follow exposure to heat without sunlight ; indeed cases 
of sunstroke occur in individuals who are working in the 
shade, or even at night. The condition might be better 
termed heat-stroke than sunstroke. 

In a certain proportion of cases the condition seems to 
be one closely resembling apoplexy. In many other cases 
the bodily st-ate may be likened to that which exists in a 
severe fainting spell. 

There may be no premonitory symptoms to warn the 
patient of an approaching attack ; he is suddenly seized 
with a severe pain in the head, a sense of fullness of the 
stomach, followed by nausea and vomiting, dizziness, dim- 
ness of vision, and sometimes ringing in the ears ; imme- 
diately he becomes very weak, especially in the lower limbs, 
and unless speedily supported, falls to the ground. In a 
very few moments after the beginning of the attack the 
patient is unconscious ; the general symptoms are, in severe 
cases, those of apoplexy, except that the patient is not 
paralyzed. The breathing is slow and snoring, and may 
be occasionally accompanied by a moaning sound. Convul- 
sions frequently occur. 

This condition may last but a few minutes and be termi- 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 705 

nated by death. It sometimes happens that the patient 
expires even before assistance can reach him. In other 
cases, after this state has lasted for from twenty minutes to 
four hours, the patient gradually recovers consciousness, and 
in a few days is convalescent. 

The most notable features in these cases, and one which 
demands particular attention in the treatment, is the excess- 
ive temperature of the body. While the body heat, during 
health, ranges from 98 to 99 degrees, it may rise during an 
attack of sunstroke to 108 degrees, 1 10, or even 112 
degrees. The surface of the body is usually, though not 
always, quite warm. 

The most important agent in the induction of sunstroke 
is undoubtedly excessive heat. Yet there are certain influ- 
ences which predispose the individual to the effect of the 
heat. Excessive exertion, especially muscular effort, seems 
to favor the development of sunstroke ; many cases occur 
in those who are engaged in manual labor, yet this is not 
invariably the case. It has been noticed that a considerable 
number of cases occur in individuals who have just com- 
pleted a hearty meal. 

Cases of sunstroke are more common in tropical than in 
other climates, notwithstanding the assumed power of the 
natives to withstand excessive heat. 

About one-half of all individuals attacked with sunstroke 
die of the affection. The occurrence of convulsions, ef 
deep and loud breathing, and of persistent unconsciousness, 
indicate that the attack will prove fatal. Perhaps the best 
index to the patient's condition and prospects is to be found 
in the pulse ; if this be very rapid and feeble, so that it can 
scarcely be felt or counted, the condition is most grave. 

In other cases the patient does not lose consciousness 
completely, or if he does, his condition resembles profound 
sleep rather than the stupor of apoplexy. In these cases 
the pulse is usually quite perceptible, though it may be 
quite rapid and feeble. 



706 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Treat7ncnt.— \n the treatment of sunstroke, it is impor- 
tant to remember that there are two different types of the 
affection, and two different modes of treatment adapted 
to each. 

For those cases in which the skin is cool, the pulse so 
feeble as to be almost imperceptible, the breathing easy 
and natural, the patient must be stimulated, and that as 
soon as possible. The clothing should be loosened, espe- 
cially from the neck; the patient's head should be kept 
low, the air allowed to circulate around the body; half a 
tablespoonful of whisky or brandy may be administered 
every fifteen minutes until six doses have been taken ; 
hartshorn should be applied to the nostrils. If there be 
any vomiting, the whisky or brandy may be administered 
as an injection into the rectum. In this case, an ounce 
(two tablespoonfuls) may be given for each dose. 

■ It is highly important that such a patient be not moved 
nor agitated ; he should not, therefore, be taken home nor 
to a hospital, unless the distance be short, but should be 
treated at once at the nearest convenient place. 

The skin may be rubbed thoroughly with whisky and 
water. But in this form of the affection no cathartics 
should be given. 

In those cases of sunstroke that resemble apoplexy, 
another line of treatment is required. In these cases the 
patient is usually unconscious, the pulse is slow. and full, 
the breathing is slow and snoring. In these cases the 
patient should be packed in ice ; these are the cases in 
which the body heat runs very high, and constitutes the 
chief element of danger. The object of treatment is, there- 
fore, to cool the body as rapidly and as early as possible. 
For this purpose, lumps of ice wrapped in coarse cloths 
may be laid entirely around the body of the patient, 
especially around the head ; if an ice cap can be procured 
— a rubber bag made to cover the entire head — it should 
be used. 



THE NURSERY ANt) SICK ROOM. 707 

If it be impossible to procure ice immediately, the 
patient may be laid in a bath of cold water, and a stream of 
water poured upon his head and neck. In short, without 
going further into details, it will suffice to repeat that the 
chief object is to lower the temperature of the body ; the 
means to be employed may vary with the circumstances of 
the case. 

In every case, one or two drops of croton oil should be 
placed upon the tongue ; and if it can be arranged, light 
mustard plasters should be applied to the soles of the feet 
and to the calves. 

Sprains. 



A SPRAIN is a wrenching of a joint, whereby some of the 
ligaments — the bands which unite the bones — are torn or 
severely stretched. In many cases there occurs also an in- 
jury to the bones. 

The severity of the injury varies extremely. A severe 
sprain, while containing no element of danger to the life of 
the patient, is nevertheless a serious injury, which may result 
in the permanent impairment of the functions of the joint. 

Treatment. — The first item in the treatment of a sprain 
is perfect rest of the limb. In many cases it is advisable to 
apply a splint in order to prevent any unconscious movement 
of the part. The splints are essentially the same as tho^e 
which have been described in treating of fractures. 

A most valuable feature for reducing the swelling and 
pain consists in wrapping the joints with cloths saturated with 
water as hot as can be comfortably endured. These fomen- 
tations should be continued for three or four hours. So soon 
as the pain and swelling have somewhat subsided an elastic 
bandage or cap should be placed around the joint. 

Care should be taken in avoiding any violent movements 
of the affected joint for some weeks after the injury. Some 
stiffness may occur, which may be overcome by having the 



7o8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

joint moved regularly every day by an assistant. The restor- 
ations of the motions can also be furthered by the use of 
some stimulating liniment, such as the ammonia liniment. 

In some cases serious disease of the bone follows a sprain. 
This is the result of the original accident and cannot be 
averted by treatment. 

Brtiises. 

A BRUISE consists in the rupture of blood vessels by appli- 
cation of violence, and the escape of the blood into the sur- 
rounding tissues. 

If no further injury be inflicted than the simple damage to 
the flesh, perfect recovery may be expected with no other 
detriment than the annoyance and pain occasioned by the 
violence. 

Treatment. — The object of treatment is to prevent, so far 
as possible, the escape of blood into the tissues, and to pro- 
mote the absorption of the blood which has already escaped. 

To check the flow of blood some cold application should 
be made to the part. Ice or ice- water is the most convenient, 
and can readily be obtained. It is not wise to apply leeches 
or to use other measures for removing the blood which has 
accumulated in the tissues; for this blood is already clotted, 
and can best be removed by the natural process of absorption. 

The only danger to be apprehended occurs in cases of 
extensive lacerations of the tissues, by which a large blood- 
vessel has been injured. In such cases there is some danger 
of mortification of the skin, and even of the flesh underneath. 

In such instances it is absolutely necessary to keep the 
part constantly moist and warm. This can be done by apply- 
ing hot fomentations over the entire surface, and renewing 
them as often as the temperature is decreased. 

In rare instances the blood accumulated in the tissues 
putrefies, giving rise to the formation of matter. In this case 
the skin should be freely opened and the blood removed, 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 709 

after which the wound should be thoroughly and repeatedly 
cleansed with the following solution: 

Listerine . . - . Two ounces. 

Water ----- Ten ounces. 



Burns and Scalds. 



The effects of burns or scalds vary with the degree of the 
injury. If the damage to the tissues be not severe, nothing 
but local treatment is required ; if, on the other hand, the 
surface be extensively burned, the patient exhibits the signs 
of shock or collapse. 

The pain consequent upon a burn or scald can be most 
quickly relieved by immersing the patient in a bath with a 
temperature of about 70 or 75 degrees F. If this be not 
obtainable, cloths saturated with warm water may be laid 
upon the part. 

After the burn has been thus treated for an hour, the limb 
should be enveloped in cotton which has been saturated in 
carbolic acid solution, two ounces of the acid being thoroughly 
mixed with two quarts of water. If this be not at hand, the 
burned surface should be thickly sprinkled with flour. 

If the burn be superficial it will be necessary only to cover 
the part with a piece of thin cloth, smeared with vaseline, 
which may be allowed to remain for a day and then removed. 
If, however, the burn be a deep one, there will be mortifica- 
tion of the surface, and pieces of skin and flesh will be 
separated by the formation of matter. It is very important 
that the dressing which is applied be not allowed to adhere to 
the surface, since it will stick to the skin, and its removal will 
occasion the patient much pain. 

In cases of deep burns, the most satisfactory dressing 
consists in placing the limb, or the entire patient, as the case 
requires, in a permanent warm bath. The pain is thereby 
relieved, and the separation of the mortified flesh proceeds 



7lO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

most rapidly and satisfactorily. This method is employed 
almost exclusively in the renowned hospital at Vienna, 
Austria. 

If this cannot be accomplished, the limb should be envel- 
oped in soft cloths spread with vaseline ; this dressing should 
be changed every day. So soon as matter begins to form, 
the parts should be thoroughly washed with warm water 
containing a little carbolic acid or listerine (two ounces of 
listerine to eight ounces of water), at every dressing. 

If there be much pain in the burned surface, it can be 
reheved by dissolving a tablespoonful of baking soda in a 
pint of water, and applying this by means of soft cloths to 
the surface. These cloths must be wet every hour, in order 
to prevent them from drying and sticking to the surface 
beneath. 

When the pieces of mortified flesh become of a dark color 
there will usually be a fetid discharge. These pieces of flesh 
must be removed with the scissors ; before doing this the limb 
should be bathed for half an hour in warm water. 

If the burn be extensive, the patient is collapsed ; the skin 
is pale and cold, the pulse rapid and feeble, the patient some- 
times unconscious. Stimulants must be applied at once ; hot 
bottles or flat-irons wrapped in flannel should be applied to 
the feet and to the sides of the body ; ammonia should be 
held near the nostrils, and a tablespoonful of whisky or brandy 
may be given in milk. If there be much pain, ten drops of 
laudanum may be added to the whisky. 

After the patient rallies from the shock, care should be 
taken to supply him with liquid diet only for several days. 
Indeed, no indigestible articles should be allowed for a week 
or two after the injury, since such cases are frequently com- 
plicated with ulceration of the small intestine, a complication 
which would be aggravated by the use of solid or indigestible 
food. 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 711 



Toothache. 



The most frequent causes of toothache are : 

First- — Decay of the tooth extending to the nerve con- 
tained in the pulp of the tooth. 

Second — Inflammation of the membrane surrounding 
the root of the tooth. This usually causes a swelling of the 
gum, and the formation of an abscess or a "gum-boil." 

Third — The general condition of the body, which pre- 
disposes to neuralgia. 

Treatment. — The treatment depends upon the source of 
the pain. There is no one remedy which can be relied upno 
to cure toothache in general. 

If the tooth be decayed, a dentist should be consulted 
and his opinion sought as to the advisability of removing 
the tooth. 

In many cases it is possible for him to devitalize the 
pulp of the tooth, fill the cavity, and retain a useful 
member. 

Until the services of a dentist can be procured the pain 
can be alleviated by the application of oil of cloves, creosote, 
chloroform, laudanum, or Jamaica ginger. The cavity of 
the tooth should be cleaned with a little cotton ; a few drops 
of one of the substances named is then placed upon a small 
wad of cotton, which is then gently inserted into the cavity 
of the tooth. 

If the toothache be caused by inflammation at the root 
of the tooth, it can sometimes be quieted by painting the 
gum with a mixture of tincture of aconite and tincture of 
iodine in equal parts. Sooner or later, however, matter 
will form at the root of the tooth ; the abscess should be 
opened at once. Such teeth are usually of no service, and 
may be extracted. 

Toothache which originates not in any local difficulty 
around the tooth, but in a constitutional condition, must be 



712 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

treated by internal remedies. In many cases advantage 
will be derived from the internal use of quinine, two grains 
of which may be taken three times a day. 

Toothache is sometimes of malarial origin ; it may come 
on every second day, just like the chills and fever of ague. 
In such cases it must be treated by quinine. 



Teas and other Refreshing Drinks. 



Linseed Tea, for Gout, Gravel, etc. — As an acces- 
sory it is in good repute. Take one tablespoonful of flaxseed, 
one quart of water and a little orange-peel. Boil ten minutes 
in a clean porcelain kettle, sweeten with honey, add the juice 
of a lemon, to allay irritation of the chest. Omitting the 
lemon, it is good for irritation of the lungs, gout and 
gravel. 

Chamomile Tea as a Strengthener. — Use one pint 
of boiling water to about thirty chamomile flowers. Steep, 
strain, sweeten with honey or sugar, and drink a cupful half 
an hour before breakfast, to promote digestion and restore the 
action of the liver. A teacupful of the tea, in which has 
been stirred a full dessert-spoonful of sugar and a very little 
ginger, is an excellent tonic and stimulant for an old person, 
taken two hours before dinner. 

White- Wine Whey. — Let a pint of milk come to a 
boil ; add half a gill of white-wine ; allow the whole to come 
to a boil, and pour into a basin to cool. When the curd has 
settled, the whey is. excellent for coughs and colds. 

Hop Tea. — This is considered good as an appetizer and 
strengthener of the digestive organs. Take one-half ounce 
of hops, upon which is poured a quart of boiling water ; 
let it stand fifteen minutes ; strain, and give a small tea- 
cupful half an hour before breakfast. 

Effervescent Drink. — Put the juice of a lemon, 
strained, in a tumbler of water, with sugar enough to 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 713 

sweeten it. Add half a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, 
and drink while effervescing. 

Sherbet. — Take one pound of best powdered sugar, 
two ounces of carbonate of soda and three ounces of tar- 
taric acid. Mix all thoroughly and keep in a bottle corked 
tight. When wanted for use, put a teaspoonful of the 
powder in a tumbler, add a drop of essence of lemon, fill 
with ice-water, stir and drink. 



Simple Remedies for the Sick. 



Every family should know something of simple reme- 
dies, especially those who live far from physicians. Often 
some simple remedy given in time will cure, or, at least, 
carry the patient until permanent relief can be obtained. 
For this reason we give a variety of recipes collected from 
the best authorities, with appropriate doses, the doses 
given being for adults. For children's doses, see table of 
proportionate doses in the next section. The most of them 
are simple and easily procured. Castor-oil is now much 
less used than formerly, but is too valuable in certain cases 
to omit. 

Acid, Acetic. — Vinegar distilled from wood and puri- 
fied, used as a lotion for its cooling properties, removing 
warts. It is not given internally, except in combination 
with other remedies 

Acid, Benzoic. — Used in chronic bronchitis. Dose : 
5 grains to ^ drachm, twice a day. 

Acid, Sulphuric — (Diluted). Sulphuric acid mixed 
with 1 1 times its bulk of water. Used in dyspepsia, also 
to check sweatings, salivation and diarrhea ; ako as a 
gargle. 

Acid, Tartaric. — Used in fevers with some soda of 
potassa, as an effervescing draught, instead of citric acid ; 



714 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the acid is dissolved in water as a substitute for lemon 
juice, and added to soda. Dose: 15 to 25 grains. 

Aloes, Barbadoes. — Used in dyspepsia and head affec- 
tions ; also as a common purgative. Dose % grain to 
5 grains, well powdered or dissolved in hot water. 

Alum. — Used internally in hemorrhages and mucous 
discharges ; externally as a wash in ophthalmia, or as a 
gargle in relaxed uvula. Dose: 10 to 20 grains. 

Ammonia, Liquor of. — Ammonia condensed in water. 
Used, when largely diluted, in fainting, asphyxia, hysteria, 
spasms, acidities of the stomach ; and externally as an irri- 
tant of the skin. Dose: 5 to 15 minims. 

Asafcetida, Gum. — Used in hysteria, flatulence, colic, 
etc. Dose: 5 to 10 grains. 

Borax, Biborate of Soda. — Used in intestinal irrita- 
tion of infants. Externally applied to thrush, and to cutane- 
ous diseases. Dose: 5 to 30 grains. Externally applied, 
dissolved in 8 times its weight of honey or mucilage. 

Camphor. — Used in hysteria, asthma, chorea, and gen- 
erally in spasmodic diseases. Externally, in muscular 
pains, bruises, etc. Dose : 3 to 5 grains, in pills. When 
dissolved in water, as camphor mixture, the quantity is 
scarcely appreciable. 

Capsicum. — Used in dyspepsia, flatulence, externally as 
an ingredient in gargles for relaxed sore throat. Dose : 3 
to 5 grains, in pills ; 2 drachms to 8 ounces form the strength 
for using as a gargle, diluted largely with water. 

Cascarilla Bark. — Stimulant, stomachic and tonic. 
Used in dyspepsia, flatulent colic, chronic dysentery and 
gangrene. Dose : 20 to 30 grains of this powder 3 or 4 
times a day. 

Castor-Oil. — Mildly aperient. Used in colic and in 
those cases of constipation which will not bear drastic pur- 
gatives ; also for mixing with gruel for the ordinary enema. 
Dose : A teaspoonful to i or 2 tablespoonfuls ; an ounce is 
the proper quantity for mixing with gruel to make an 
enema. 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 715 

Simple Cerate.— Add 20 ounces of melted wax to a 
pint of olive oil, and mix while warm, stirring until cold. 
Used for covering blisters or other healing sores. 

Chalk, Prepared. — Used in acidities of the stomach 
and bowels, and to correct the irritation which is established 
in diarrhea. Externally, as a mild application to sores and 
burns. Dose: 10 to 15 grains. 

Chamomile Flowers. — Tonic, stomachic and carmina- 
tive. The warm infusion, when weak, is emetic. Externally, 
soothing. Used in dyspepsia, hysteria, flatulence, and also 
to work off emetics. Dose of the powder : 30 to 40 grains, 
twice a day. 

Charcoal. — Vegetable. Used as an ingredient in tooth- 
powder ; also to mix with other substances in forming a 
poultice for foul ulcers. Sometimes given internally. Dose : 
10 to 20 grains. 

Cinchona Bark. — (Yellow.) Astringent, tonic, anti- 
septic and febrifuge. Used in typhoid fevers, and in all low 
states of the system, being in such cases superior to 
quinine. Dose: 10 to 50 grains, in wine or wine and 
water. 

Cinnamon Bark, Oil and Water. — Used as a warm 
and cordial spice to prevent the griping of purgatives, 
etc. 

Cod-Liver Oil. — Prepared from the liver of the codfish. 
Nutritive, and acting also on the general system, from con- 
taining very small doses of iodine and bromine. Dose : i 
drachm carried up to 4 in any convenient vehicle, a.:, infusion 
of cloves. 

Decoction of Barley. — (Barley water.) Wash 2^ 
ounces of pearl barley, then boil it in ^4 pint of water for a 
short time. Throw this water away, and pour on the barley 
4 pints of hot water ; boil slowly down to 2 pints and strain. 
Soothing and nourishing. Used as a diluent drink in fevers 
and in inflammation of mucous surfaces, especially those 
of the urinary organs. 



7l6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Decoction of Barley (Compound). — Boil 2 pints of 
barley water (see above) with 2>^ ounces of sliced figs, 4 
drachms of bruised fresh licorice, 2j/^ ounces of raisins, and 
I pint of water, down to 2 pints, and strain. Effect, the 
same as barley water, but, in addition, laxative. 

Decoction of Broom (Compound). — Take ^ ounce of 
broom, ^ ounce of juniper berries, and ^ ounce of bruised 
dandelion ; boil in i Yt, pints of water down to a pint, and 
strain. Diuretic, and slightly aperient. Used in dropsy. 
Dose : I Yz ounces to 2 ounces, twice or thrice a day. 

Decoction of Cinchona. — Boil 10 drachms of bruised 
yellow cinchona in i pint of water for 10 minutes, in a closed 
vessel, then strain. Used in fevers, malignant sore-throat, 
and dyspepsia. Dose: i^ ounces to 3 ounces, 3 times a 
day. 

Decoction of Dandelion. — Boil 4 ounces of bruised 
dandelion in lYi. pints of distilled water, to a pint, and 
strain. Used in torpid conditions of the liver, jaundice, 
habitual constipation, etc. Dose: 2 or 3 ounces, 2 or 3 
times a day. 

Decoction of Iceland Moss. — Boil 5 drachms of Ice- 
land moss in i Y^ pifts of water down to a pint, and strain. 
Used in consumption and dysentery. Dose : i to 2 ounces. 

Decoction of Poppyheads. — Boil 5 ounces of bruised 
poppyheads in 3 pints of water for ^ hour, and strain. 
Used as a fomentation in painful swellings and inflamma- 
tions. 

Decoction of Quince-seed. — Boil 2 drachms of quince- 
seed in I pint of water, in a tighdy-covered vessel, for 10 
minutes, and strain. Used in thrush and irritable conditions 
of the mucous membranes. 

Decoction of Sarsaparilla (Compound). — Mix 4 pints 
of boiling decoction of sarsaparilla, 10 drachms of sliced 
sassafras, 10 drachms of guaiacum-wood shavings, 10 
drachms of bruised stick-licorice, and 3 drachms of mezeron- 
bark ; boil ^ hour, and strain. Used in cutaneous diseases, 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 717 

chronic rheumatism, and scrofula. Dose : 2 ounces, 2 or 3 
times a day. 

Extract of Hop. — Physical properties. A dark-colored, 
bitter extract, without much smell. Tonic and sedative. 
Used in chronic dyspepsia and loss of sleep. Dose : 10 to 
15 grains. 

Infusion of Cascarilla. — Macerate 1% ounces of 
bruised cascarilla in i pint of boiling water for 2 hours, in a 
covered vessel, and strain. Stomachic and tonic. Used in 
dyspepsia, diarrhea, and general debility. Dose : i ounce 
to 2 ounces. 

Infusion of Gentian (Compound). — Macerate 2 
drachms of sliced gentian, 2 drachms of dried orange-peel, 
4 drachms of lemon-peel, in i pint of boiling water, for i 
hour, in a covered vessel, and strain. Stomachic and tonic. 
Used in dyspepsia and general debility. Dose: ij^ to 2 
ounces, 2 or 3 times a day. 

Infusion of Horseradish (Compound). — Macerate i 
ounce of horseradish, sliced, and i ounce of bruised mus- 
tard seed in i pint of boiling water 2 hours, in a covered 
vessel, and strain. Then add a fluid ounce of the com- 
pound spirit of horseradish. The same as the root. Dose : 

1 to 3 ounces, 3 or 4 times a day. 

Imfusion of Quassia. — Macerate 10 drachms of quassia, 
sliced, in i pint of boiling water 2 hours, in a covered ves- 
sel. Tonic and stomachic. Used in dyspepsia. Dose : 
ij^ to 2 ounces. 

Infusion of Roses (Compound). — Put 3 drachms of the 
dried red-rose leaves into i pint of boiling water, then add 
1% fluid drachms of diluted sulphuric acid. Macerate for 

2 hours, and strain the liquor; lastly, add 6 drachms of 
sugar. Therapeutical effects: Astringent, refrigerant, 
and antiseptic. Used as a drink in fevers; also a vehicle 
for sulphate of magnesia, quinine, etc. Dose: 1% to 2 
ounces. 

Liquor of Acetate of Lead. — Used as a lotion to 
inflamed surfaces when largely diluted with water. 



7l8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Liquor of Potash. — Used in acidity of the stomach and 
bowels; also in irritability of the stomach and of the blad- 
der, and in cutaneous diseases. Dose: lo to 30 drops, in 
beer or bitter infusion, or lemonade. 

Magnesia, Carbonate of. — Used in dispepsia with 
costiveness, in the constipation of children and of delicate 
grown persons. Dose: 5^ to i or 2 drachms. 

Mercury, Chloride of Calomel. — Used in chronic 
diseases of the liver and general torpidity of the stomach 
and bowels; in dropsy, in combination with other medicines. 
A most dangerous medicine when etnployed by those who are 
not aware of its powerful effects. Dose: i grain twice a 
day as an alterative, 4 to 5 grains as an aperient, com- 
bined with or followed by some mild vegetable purgative. 

Mixture of Iron. — All mixtures of iron should be pre- 
pared by capable druggists. 

Poultice of Charcoal. — ^Macerate, for a short time, 
before the fire, 2 ounces of bread in 2 fluid ounces of boil- 
ing water; then mix, and gradually stir in 10 drachms of 
linseed meal; with these mix 2 drachms of powdered char- 
coal, and sprinkle i drachm on the surface. Used in 
gangrene. 

Poultice of Yeast. — Mix 5 ounces of yeast with an 
equal quantity of water, at 100°; with these stir i pound 
of flour, so as to make a poultice; place it by the fire till it 
swells, and use. Stimulant, emollient. Used in indolent 
abscesses and sores. 

Quinine, Sulphate of. — Physical properties: Color- 
less, inodorous, lustrous, bitter efflorescent crystals, totally 
soluble in water previously acidulated with sulphuric acid. 
Stomachic, stimulant, febrifuge and tonic. Used in general 
debility, neuralgia, and after fever. Dose: i to 3 grains. 

Soda, Bicarbonate of. — Physical properties: A heavy, 
white powder, without smell, and tasting slightly soapy. 
Entirely soluble in water. Anti-acid. Used for acidities 
of the stomach. Dose: 5 to 30 grains. 



THE NURSERY AND SICK ROOM. 719 

Spigelia. — A very useful remedy for round worms. 
Dose: 10 to 20 grains of tlje powder, given fasting; or Y^ 
to 3 ounces of the infusion made by pouring i pint of water 
on yi ounce of the root. 

Syrup of Iodide of Iron. — Is used because the iodide 
of iron is Hable to injury from change. Alterative, and 
affording the effects of iron and iodine. Used in scrofulous 
diseases, and in cachectic states of the system. Dose: 3^ 
drachm to 1 drachm. 

Wine of Iron. — Stomachic and tonic. Used the same 
as other iron medicines. Dose: 30 to 60 minims. 

Doses and Their Graduation. 



All who have charge of sick-rooms where the physician 
is not in regular attendance should understand the propor- 
tionate doses for various ages ; but here, again, proper 
calculation must be made for development, constitutional 
differences, etc. The nurseshould also knowsomethingof how 
certain medicines act on different systems. The following 
table will give a general idea of the proportionate dose to 
get ordinary action of medicine, allowing that a person of 
twenty-five to forty years of age requires a full dose. 

TABLE OF PROPORTIONATE DOSES. 

Age - - - 80 65 50 25-40 20 16 12 8 5 2 Years. 

Doses --^^^i ^A M ^A y, yk Vi, 

Age - 12 6 2 to I Months. 

Doses ----- 1-5 1-8 1-15 1-24. 

Adult women require about three-fourths the full dose "^ 
of men. 

Measures for Doses. — A tumbler is estimated to contain 
four or five fluid ounces ; a wineglass one and one-half or 
two fluid ounces ; a tablespoon about one-half fluid ounce ; 
a teaspoonful one fluid drachm ; a minim is one drop. 



^PGRMRnSKIP.^ 



Pcnm^insBip. 



The History of its Rise and Progress. 



XRITING is the art of expressing ideas by visible signs 
or characters inscribed on some material. It is 
either ideographic or phonetic. Ideographic writing may- 
be either pictorial, representing objects by imitating their 
forms, or symbolic, by imitating their nature or proportions. 
Phonetic writing may be syllabic or alphabetic; in the 
former each character represents a syllable ; in the latter, 
a single letter. Of the origin of this art nothing is posi- 
tively known. The Egyptians ascribe it to Thoth ; the 
Greeks, to Mercury or Cadmus ; and the Scandinavians, to 
Odin. 

The first step towards writing was probably the rude 
pictorial representation of objects, without any indication 
of the accessories of time or place ; the next, the applica- 
tion of a symbolic signification to some of the figures, so 
that the picture of two legs, for example, represented not 
only two legs, but also the act of walking. Pictures, 
abbreviated for convenience, gradually became conventional 
signs, and in time these characters were made to stand for 
the sound of spoken language. 

The various systems of writing of the ancient world had 
probably at least three different sources — the Egyptian, 
the Assyrian and the Chinese system, all of which were 
originally hieroglyphic. The Egyptians practiced four 
distinct styles of writing — the hieroglyphic, hieratic, 
demotic or enchorial, and Coptic. Hieroglyphic writing, 
which was in use much earlier than 3,000 B. C, was prob- 
ably at first ideographic ; its symbols became gradually 



724 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

used to represent abstract ideas, and in time acquired a 
phonetic value. The phonetic characters are both syllabic 
and alphabetic. In the latter, pictorial figures are used to 
express the initial letters of the words which they repre- 
sent ; for example, the figure of an eagle, akhom, stands 
for a, of an owl, miilag, for m, etc. 

The hieratic writing, which probably came into use 
2,000 B. C, was a simplied form of the hieroglyphic style, 
in which the pictorial symbols developed through a stage 
of linear hieroglyph into a kind of curious hand. The 
demotic or enchorial writing was of a still simpler form of 
the hieroglyphic, and a nearer approach to the alphabetic 
system. It was in use from aboi;t the seventh century B. 
C. till the second century A. D., when it was gradually 
superseded by the Coptic, which grew out of the hieratic 
and demotic under Greek influences. 

The Ethiopians also used hieroglyphs similar to those 
of the Egyptians, and their current written language 
resembled the Egyptian demotic, but its alphabet had 
fewer symbols. At a later period a third graphic system, 
somewhat analogous to the Coptic, came into use, which 
may be called Ethiopic Greek. With what people the 
Assyrian Cuneiform or Sphenographic styles of writing 
originated is not known, but it was originally without 
doubt a hieroglyphic system, and became gradually mod- 
ified by the different nations which occupied the Assyrian 
empire, until it assumed the form of the present known 
inscriptions. 

There are three classes of Cuneiform characters — the 
Assyrian or Babylonian, the Scythian or Median, and the 
Persian. The first is the most complicated, containing 
from 600 to 700 symbols ; the second is less complicated, 
but contains about 100 symbols, or three times as many as 
the third, which is almost purely alphabetic. Of these three 
original systems, the Egyptian is by far the most import- 
ant, for from its hieratic symbols was probably derived the 



PENMANSHIP. 



725 



Phcenician alphabet, the parent of almost all the principal 
graphic systems of the world. 

The Roman letters were used in Italy until the latter 
part of the sixth century, when the Lombardic style was 




introduced. This is also sometimes called Roman, because 
used by the Popes in their bulls ; it continued in use until 
the thirteenth century. 



726 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The Visigothic style, carried into Spain by the Visigoths, 
was legally abolished in 1091, and Latin letters were 
adopted for all public instruments. In France the Mero- 
vingian style prevailed from the close of the 6th century to 
the end of 8th. Charlemagne introduced the Caroline, 
which, having degenerated before the close of the loth 
century, was restored by Hugh Capet, and was subse- 
qyently called the Capetian. It was in use in England, 
France, and Germany till the middle of the 12th century, 
when the modern Gothic spread all over Europe. The 
present German alphabet is a modification of this. 

There are no traces of writing in Britain before the 
Roman conquest, when Latin letters were introduced. 
What is called the Roman-Saxon, resembling the Roman, 
prevailed until the middle of the 8th century; the set 
Saxon succeeded it, lasting until the middle of the 9th ; 
this was followed by the running-hand Saxon of the time 
'of Alfred ; the mixed Saxon, combining the Roman, Lom- 
bardic, and Saxon letters ; and the elegant Saxon, which 
was introduced in the loth century, and did not become 
obsolete until the middle of the 12th. The Norman style, 
quaint, illegible, affected, and composed of letters nearly 
Lombardic, came in with William the Conqueror. 

The modern Gothic dates in England from the 12th 
century; the old English, from the middle of the 14th. 
The English court had a barbarous corruption of the 
Norman, which was contrived by the lawyers of the i6th 
century, and lasted till the reign of George II, when it was 
abolished by law. 

The utmost diversity exists among different nations 
in the manner or direction of writing ; but in general the 
Semitic races wrote from right to left, and the Aryan from 
left to right. 

In form ancient manuscripts were either rolls, volumnia 
or flat pages like our printed books, codiees. The Egyptian 
papyri are usually in rolls of an indefinite length, according 



PENMANSHIP. 727 

to the subject matter, but some of the smaller ones are 
flat. 

The transcripts of manuscripts were committed by the 
Greeks and Romans principally to slaves, who were es- 
teemed of great value when they excelled in the art. There 
were also at Rome professional copyists, some of whom 
were women. About the 5th century, associations of 
scribes, who worked under stringent rules, were formed. 
In the middle ages copying was almost exclusively in the 
hands of ecclesiastics, who were called clerks, clcrici. In 
the Imperial library at Vienna is a Roman calendar ex- 
ecuted in the first half of the 4th century. In the Vatican 
there is a fragment of a Virgil of the 4th century. The 
most ancient manuscripts extant are the papyrus rolls from 
the tombs of Egypt, where the dryness of the climate and 
of the sand beneath which they were buried preserved them 
in an almost perfect condition for thousands of years. 



How to Learn to Write. 



Begin with good paper, good pens, good ink. 

In a good copy the letters should be of elegant form, 
and constructed on natural principles. Every letter should 
be as perfect as it is possible for human skill to execute, 
that wherever it occurs it may present an unvarying model 
to the pupil. The turns and slopes should be alike, the 
loops of the same length and width, the proper distances 
between the letters carefully observed, and shade duly dis- 
tributed. 

Curlicues, flourishes, and ornamental capitals may delight 
an amateur in a show-case ; a thorough business man de- 
tests them in his correspondence. In a lady's writing they 
are simply vulgar. 

The course of instruction given in the copies should con- 
stitute a system, arranged in that order of progression which 



728 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

is indicated by a careful analysis of the forms of the letters 
and of the powers of the human hand, so that each advance 
may prepare the way for the next, and the steps not be 
farther apart than the necessities of the case compel. To 
this end, the simpler forms should precede the more com- 
plex; the short, the long. Those that have similar curves 
and turns and identical parts should be together. Words 
should precede sentences. The columns should be first 
narrow, then broader, to accustom the hand by degrees to 
move easily on the given rests across the longest word. 
These columnar sections, intended to be written down, are 
the gradual preparation for the sentences, which occupy the 
width of the page. The selection of the words for the col- 
umns should be in accordance with the same principle of 
progressiveness, — first the easier, then the more difficult com- 
binations. In them the loops should so occur that when the 
copy is written they may be handsomely distributed, and the 
general appearance of the page be harmonious. 

A good paper costs more, but it is indispensable. It 
should be tolerably thick, well laid, with a smooth surface, 
moderately glazed ; so that the ink will not show through 
when dry, and that there may be no roughness or little 
hairs for the pen to pick up, and that the pen may glide 
along without jar on the muscles or nerves of the fingers 
and hand, — a very important consideration, now that steel 
pens are used, as paralysis has in several instances rusulted 
from their use, and their injurious effect must needs be 
greater on a rough surface. A white paper is generally to 
be preferred to a blue, indeed is almost invariably used. 

The pen should be fine-pointed, so that a good hair- 
line can be made, and have a good springy nib, that the 
shades may be cleanly cut, and that the writing may not be 
rendered stiff, a result inevitably following the use of a 
"hard" pen. They should be of a uniform character as 
much as possible, — not one very hard and another very 



PENMANSHIP. 729 

soft. Slight differences cannot be avoided ; those that vary 
least are the best, if they are right in other respects. 

A new pen is often greasy, owing to a certain process 
in the manufacture, and will not retain the ink. Dip it and 
raise it from the ink slowly, then wipe it ; repeat this two 
or three times and the trouble will be removed. 

Good ink is a very difficult thing to procure. It should 
be sufficiently fluid to flow easily from the pen, dark enough 
to enable the pupil to see at the time what he is writing, 
and to judge of hair-strokes and shades. It must not 
evaporate rapidly from the inkstand, nor leave a layer of 
mud in it; neither should it mould. Frost should not 
affect it. Ink should stain the paper in order to be perma- 
nent. Its color when thoroughly dry should be a deep 
black, which neither time nor exposure to the sun can 
change. 

Pupils will learn by experiment that, if they raise the 
pen from the ink suddenly, it will be too full, and apt to 
blot; if very slowly, the attraction of the fluid will leave 
none in the pen ; and, therefore, a moderate motion must 
be used. One experiment is worth hours of talking. 
Attention to this will save many a blot. Cleanliness is as 
absolutely necessary for the well-being of the pen as for 
our own. 

Pens should be carefully cleaned at the close of t^he 
exercise. Always dip and wipe a new pen two or three 
times before it is written with, or it will be very likely to 
make a blot. To avoid the same mishap, the pen should 
never be wiped on the outsidie of the pen-wiper, but always 
between the leaves of it. Should the pen-wiper then hap- 
pen to get on the book, no damage will be done. 

A stiff blotter will last the longest, but common blotting- 
paper, or a piece of newspaper, or any paper, will answer, 
not indeed for blotting, but for the use we now designate. 
The copy-book must be kept perfectly clean, and the 
blotter is to be used for that purpose. The right hand 



730 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

does not soil the book, for it rests on the nails of two 
fingers and only touches the page with them. It is the 
left hand that does the mischief To obviate it, place the 
blotter so as to cover each column as soon as it is dry after 
being written, and rest the left hand on that, and not on 
the page. 

Position, Rests, and Movements. 

The immediate human instrument in writing is the arm. 
It consists of three parts, the upper-arm, the fore-arm, and 
the hand. The two connections of these are the elbow 
and wrist. The arm is attached to the body by the shoulder- 
joint. The position of the body must, therefore, evidently 
depend upon the use we wish to make of the arm and hand. 
This use, then, must be determined first. Various ones have 
been advocated by different teachers. The three following 
are the most strongly distinguished ; the others arise from 
combinations of two or more of them. First, considering 
the shoulder as a point of suspension, and moving the 
whole arm without any support, and without any motion of 
the finger-joints. There are, however, very few who 
possess sufficient muscular strength and steadiness of nerve 
to write thus. It is the true movement for striking large 
capitals and flourishing. Secondly, resting the fore-arm 
near the elbow and on the nails of the third and fourth 
fingers, and forming the letters by its movement without 
any help from the pen-fingers. Thirdly, resting the fore- 
arm and hand as in the last, while the letters are formed by 
the movement of those fingers only which hold the pen. 
This generally leads to a feeble, constrained style. 

There must be Freedom of Style, — This condition 
can only be fulfilled by keeping the arm free from all un- 
natural constraint. This precludes it from affording any 
support to the body. Again, the letters are to be written 
across the page on a horizontal line. A requirement of 



PENMANSHIP. 73 1 

beauty is that this line should be straight. This is secured 
without much difificulty where the base is ruled. The only 
important thing is to keep on it. If, now, we take pen in 
hand, use the elbow, placed opposite the middle of the 
page, for a pivot, and move the hand across, we find that 
the arc of a circle is described, touching the base line in 
only two points. In the middle it rises a full half inch 
above the base line. This is a difificulty to be overcome. 
Once more, whilst mere form does not demand considera- 
tion here, because readiness in shaping letters can only be 
acquired by practice, yet uniformity of slope and similarity 
of turns, which are required, will evidently greatly depend 
upon the maintenance of the same relative position of the 
pen, hand, and fore-arm for each letter. If we now observe 
a little farther the movement above described, we find that 
in it the position of the hand in relation to each succeeding 
letter is changed, and assumes a new direction. How can 
this difificulty be overcome ? Again, it is clear that we shall 
be able to write much faster, if the pen touches the paper 
lightly, than if it presses on it heavily ; this also contributes 
greatly to freedom of style. Finally, in order to acquire 
boldness of style, powerful muscles must, if possible, be 
brought into play in aid of the slight muscles of the fingers, 
while forming the letters. This would also help to prevent 
fatigue. To sum up, the essentials of the work to be done 
are: long continuance, freedom, forming the letters on a 
horizontal straight line across the page, uniformity of slope 
and similarity of turns, rapidity and boldness. The condi- 
tions we have found to be hereby imposed on the arm are: 
avoidance of unnatural constraint, relief of all unnecessary 
pressure, movement of the hand and fore-arm across the 
page with the same relative position to each letter, and 
counteraction of the curve arising from this movement, ade- 
quate support, and use of powerful muscles. 

The Human Instrument. — A little in front of the elbow, 
at the thickest part of the fore-arm, we find a mass of mus- 



732 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

cle. If the arm is placed on the desk, suspended from the 
shoulder, and resting lightly on this mass as a support, we 
fiad an excellent ability for moving the fore-arm on it with 
freedom from left to right and back again, within a certain 
limited distance, the muscle rolling under the arm. We 
will name this support the rolling rest. It is of the high- 
est importance to observe the peculiar movement of the 
fore-arm on this rest. It is not to be so used as that, when 
the hand passes to the left, the elbow moves to the right, 
and vice versa. The fore-arm moves sideways as the 
muscle rolls under it, with sufficient play, when it is placed 
at right angles to the base line and opposite the middle of 
a word or short clause, to carry the hand across from one 
end of it to the other without changing its direction. Bend- 
ing the wrist sideways to the right — a most cramping 
movement, and painful if frequently repeated — is thus ren- 
dered quite unnecessary, and should be carefully watched 
against. 

By turning the third and fourth fingers under, so that the 
hand can rest on the corner of their nails, or, if preferred, on 
the little finger only, another support, like the runners of a 
sleigh, is provided, capable of moving freely over the paper. 
We name this the sliding rest. To avoid friction, the wrist 
should not touch the desk ; by means of the two rests, it may 
easily and comfortably be kept a little raised. 

These, then, we conceive to be natural positions and 
rests — namely, the right hand and fore-arm in the same 
straight line, at right angles to the line of writing, and oppo- 
site the middle of a long word or a clause of moderate 
length. The fore-arm is supported on the rolling rest, the 
hand on the sliding rest, and the wrist slighdy raised. 

The left fore-arm and hand are placed at right angles to 
the right fore-arm, with the fingers on the blotter, which 
covers the part already written, to steady the book, and 
move it when necessary. The left fore-arm is therefore in 
the direction of the line of writing. 



PENMANSHIP. 733 

What now are the movements of the right fore-arm and 
hand? On the roUing rest the whole fore-arm moves, so as 
always to be parallel to its first position, and carries with it 
the hand supported on the sliding rest. The rolling rest is 
stationary ; the sliding rest glides along the paper on a hori- 
zontal line — that is, parallel to the line of writing ; this is its 
only movement. The whole fore-arm and hand move grad- 
ually to the right in this way, with a nearly continuous 
motion, for the formation of the successive letters, so that 
their relative position to every letter is the same. All stop- 
ages of the nails and jerks to get the hand forward are to be 
absolutely forbidden. This movement of the hand is named 
the sliding movement ; the movement of the fore-arm we 
have named \.\i& comita I movement (Lat. comes, a companion), 
because it accofnpanies the hand. 

Since the comital movement is more or less limited, some 
further means must be found of keeping the fore-arm and 
hand in the right relative position to the letters. Two 
methods offer themselves to us for selection. One is, to 
draw the paper to the left as we write. The other, which 
we prefer, is, by means of a lift from the shoulder, to place 
the fore-arm and hand in a position farther to the right ; 
this should be done only at the end of a word. To distin- 
guish this movement, we have named it the lateral move- 
ment. In performing it, the hand slides as before. Experi- 
ment will now demonstrate that, by the adoption of the 
rolling rest and the lateral movement, the difficulty men- 
tioned above, of the curve formed by the hand crossing the 
page, is entirely done away with. 

For the Attaining of Boldness of Style, the power- 
ful muscles of the fore-arm must be brought into action by 
a straight play of the whole fore-arm forwards and back- 
wards, in direction of the slope on the rolling rest, over the 
sliding rest, — ^a fixed point, so far as this movement is con- 
cerned. This gives a full heft, through the medium of the 
hand, to the fingers which move the pen, and, as a conse- 



734 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

quence, boldness of style, just as a large and massive stone 
rollingf down a hill maintains its course over considerable 
inequalities of surface, while the slightest obstacle diverts 
a small and light one. This play of the fore-arm we name 
the muscular movement. The resulting play of the hand, 
as the medium of its transmission to the pen-fingers, we 
name the medial movement. 

We are now prepared to form a correct judgment as to 
the best position of the body for the accomplishing of these 
movements most naturally, and consequently with the least 
fatigue. It may be summed up in two words. The body 
must be tipright and self-supported. Its relative position 
to the desk is a matter of comparative indifference ; only, 
all the pupils should conform to one plan. Each position 
has its advantages and inconveniences. The simplest 
division of positions is two-fold ; the right side to the 
desk, and the face to the desk. 

Where we adopt the former, we direct the pupil to turn 
on his seat, so that his right side may be directly to the 
desk without touching; the body to be erect, and supported 
by the spinal column ; the left foot slightly advanced. The 
book is adjusted with the back to the front edge of the 
desk, and at a two-seated desk, the top edge of one at the 
outside edge of the desk, of the other in a line with the 
inkstand. When opened, the left s'de of the page to be 
written is to be placed at the edge of the desk. The left 
hand is brought across, and the fingers placed on the left 
side of the page to keep it steady. The right fore-arm is 
placed on the desk, parallel with the front edge. If neces- 
sary, from short-sightedness or bad adaptation of the 
height of the seats to the desks, the body may be inclined 
forward from the seat, — never by rounding the back and 
contracting the chest, — and the head may be bowed some- 
what forward by bending the neck. The advantages of 
this plan of seating the scholars are : the perfectly natural 
position of the body ; the freedom of the right arm from 



PENMANSHIP. 735 

all avoidable weight, and its ability to form the movements 
required ; the certainty that both rests are on the desk ; 
and the facility with which the teacher can look down the 
files and along the lines in large classes, and see that every 
pen is rightly held, and every movement correctly made. 
An objection to this position is made on the ground that, in 
business, when using large account-books, it is impossible. 
We reply, that we adopt this position for learners, because 
it is very convenient for the teacher. When the art is 
acquired, the position becomes comparatively a matter of 
indifference. 

Where we adopt the second method of seating, namely, 
the body fronting the desk fairly, or with more or less inclina- 
tion of the right or left side to it, we take care of these two 
points : that both rests of the right fore-arm shall be on and 
be kept on the desk, and that the book is at right angles to 
the right fore-arm. The following troubles are apt to arise : 
A tendency to sprawl over the desk, and, as a necessary con- 
sequence, to press the chest against it, — a practice most 
injurious. The book gets turned from its proper position at 
right angles to the right fore-arm. When writing down a 
column, a habit we strongly commend for learners, the book 
must be continually pushed up, or the back rest of the arm 
will get more and more off the desk. Indeed, pupils, are 
sometimes found actually resting the wrist on the front edge 
of the desk. On the other hand, this is often the only posi- 
tion the seats admit of; it is the position that must be 
adopted, when writing in large account-books ; and there is 
no necessity that the above faults should prevail. They cer- 
tainly will not under the care of a faithful teacher. We con- 
clude, then, that the position of the body at the desk is 
matter of indifference, provided it is upright and self-sup- 
ported. 

The next point which claims our attention is the man- 
ner of holding the pen, and the movement of the pen-fingers. 
We have seen that the hand is supported on the sides of 



736 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the nails of the third and fourth fingers. Their ends, being 
bent under, are separated from the others, and there is 
room for the execution of the pen-finger movements. The 
fingers should touch one another at the second joints, as far 
as the shape of the hand permits ; this gives unity and 
support. 

The pen is held by means of the thumb and the first 
and second fingers. Place the right extremity of the holder 
against the left side of the second finger just below the 
nail; the end of the finger will thus be above the pan. 
Next, adjust the holder obliquely across the left side of the 
third portion of the first finger, just behind the second 
joint, the middle finger being at the same time slightly 
bent. The first two portions of the forefinger may now be 
closed down on the holder, which will be found to cross 
and touch them diagonally. The first and second fingers 
touch throughout. Next, let the upper corner of the fleshy 
part of the thumb, near the nail, be placed, by slightly 
bending the thumb, against the lower half of the left side 
of the holder, opposite the first joint of the middle finger, 
and the pen will be found in a secure and natural position, 
both for extension and retraction. It will be observed that 
we have given the medium position of the pen. The fingers 
and thumb with the joints slightly bent outwards, straight- 
ening them would extend the pen; bending them still more 
would retract it. The pen is really held between three 
points — the side of the end of the second finger, the side 
of the third portion of the first finger behind the second 
joint in front of the knuckle, and the side of the end of the 
thumb. The first finger is like the lid of a box placed on 
it to keep the pen from jumping out; it is also the principal 
agent in affecting the pressure for the shades. As to move- 
ment, the thumb may be regarded as a spring. The first and 
second finger, by contraction of their muscles, press against 
it; we relax its muscles, and it yields by bending: thus the 
downward strokes are made. By relaxing, in turn, the 



PENMANSHIP. 737 

muscles of the fingers, and straightening the thumb by call- 
ing its muscles into action, it pushes back the fingers, and 
the up-strokes are formed. The movement is twofold and 
alternate, extending and retracting, to form oqlique lines, 
ovals, or horizontals. 

The pen must be held with the least possible grasp. It 
is to be at right angles to the base line, and thus in a 
line with the fore-arm. Great care must be taken to guard 
against a wrong position of the hand and pen. The pen 
must be so held that the riofht side is turned a little down, 
so that the right nib touches the paper first when the pen 
is put down. With this right nib the hair strokes are made. 
The nibs, so to speak, are at right angles to the slope; not 
horizontal. By this means the shades can be made smooth. 
When it is neglected, the shades will be " scratchy," or 
rough on one side. A glance at the holder tells the teacher 
in a moment if the hand is right. With beginners it will be, 
found almost as variable as a weathercock.. Now it is in- 
clined to the right, showing that the hand is lying down — a 
fault requiring constant watchfulness, and arising from 
neglect of the comital movement of the fore-arm; now to 
left, showing that the hand is turned too far over in that di- 
rection. Now the end points outwards, showing the elbow 
has got away; again, it points inwards, showing that the 
wrist is bent to the right. \ 

The body with the right side to the desk, or directly 
facing it, or with either side more or less turned to it. It is 
to be upright and self-supported. 

The force-arms rest lightly on the desk at right angles 
to one another. The right is supported by the rolling rest, 
and the hand by the sliding rest. The left arm has the 
fingers on the left side of the book, to steady it and to move 
it when necessary. The copy-book is placed with its vertical 
lines in the direction of the right fore-arm, and its hori- 
zontal lines in that of the left. It must be kept far enough 
on the desk to allow the rests also to be on. This position 



738 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of the book at right angles to the right fore-arm is invari- 
able, whatever direction the arm may be in on the desk. 

The rolling rest is the muscle in front of the elbow ; the 
sliding rest, the corners of the nails of the third and fourth 
fingers bent under. 

The Movements of the Fore-arm are 'Three. — The 
comital, which accompanies the sliding movement of the 
hand, and is made sidewise on the rolling rest. The mus- 
cular, which causes the medial movement of the hand, and 
gives heft to the pen-fingers. It is a play of the arm 
forwards and backwards on the rolling rest. The conse- 
quent medial movement of the hand is made over the 
sliding rest, of which the only movement is in a horizontal 
line. The lateral is the lifting and moving the whole fore- 
arm and hand to the right ; it is rendered necessary by the 
limited scope of the comital. 

The simplest movement for beginners is to form the 
letters by the motion of the fingers, moving the hand and 
arm along by the united sliding and comital movements, 
which should be nearly continuous. When thoroughly 
familiar with these, after considerable practice, the medial 
and muscular movements may be added to give freedom and 
boldness of style. The lateral will not be needed until 
sentences are written. 

The movements of the pen fingers are in different 
directions, by extension and retractipn ; thus are written 
oblique straight lines ; ovals, direct, inverted and alternate ; 
and horizontal lines. The shades are made by pressure. 
As to these, great care is needed. They must be made in 
ovals, with a gradual increase and dimunitian of pressure. 
The usual fault is to make them too abrupt, or with the 
greatest thickness too long continued. The moment the 
thickest point is reached, the pressure should begin to 
diminish. Special directions are given in the analysis of 
the letter, where needed. 



PENMANSHIP. 739 



Elements and Principles. 



Words are represented in writing- by a single letter, or 
by a combination of letters. Letters are complex ; they 
can be resolved into forms common to several of them ; 
thus, the form repeated in 21 is found also in i and zv ; or, 
they are expressed by one such form as j, found in £- and 
^. In some there are parts not found in any other. 

In writing, the letters are placed on horizontal lines, 
either ruled or imaginary. Some of the letters and parts 
of others are longer than the rest. The letter o, which is 
the pure oval, is taken as the standard of size. We 
name the line on which the writing- rests the Base Line. 
Suppose a line parallel to this to be drawn so as to touch 
the top of the o. This, whether ruled or imaginary, is 
named the Head Line. The distance between the base 
and head lines is called one space, and gives the height of 
the first four principles, wherever they enter into the for- 
mation of letters. The dot of the r, the point of the s, 
the top of the second part of the ^, are one-third of a 
space higher. 

Suppose, now, six lines parallel to the base line to be 
drawn, three above the head line, and three below the base 
line, at intervals equal to the first space. We shall have 
eight parallel lines, bounding- seven equal spaces, in a ver- 
tical direction. We call the middle space the first ; the 
next above and below, the second ; the next, the third ; 
and the last, the fourth. One of these spaces is taken for 
the unit of measurement. 

Rule. — Loop letters are four spaces, and double loops 
seven ; ^ and d two and a half, t/ three and a half, p five, 
two above and two below the first space. All the rest are 
one space, except r, s, and the second part of k, which are 
one and a third. 

The capitals are four spaces. 



740 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

It will be observed that f, long s, and / extend as far 
above the first space as they do below ; and that the top 
of / is a little higher than that of t and d, and the bottom 
of ^ a little lower than that of p. 

The commencing and ending lines of the letters are 
always to begin and terminate at the base and head lines 
respectively. 

There are two grammatical divisions of letters, distin- 
guished by their forms ; the small letters, which form the 
main body of writing ; and the capitals, which are used on 
special occasions. We shall begin with the analysis of the 
small letters, because they occur oftenest, and because their 
forms are simpler. We shall not take them up in their 
alphabetical order, but in that which gives the easiest first, 
and shows their similarity, arising from the possession of 
common principles. This is the method adopted in our 
copy-books, in order to render our system of teaching 
gradually progressive. 



The Capital Letters — General Rules. 



The height of the capitals is four spaces, the same as 
the loop letters. 

A. This letter has three parts. The first part is gen- 
erally written upwards, the upper curve very slight. The 
second part is very slightly curved to one-third from the 
top, then it is a straight line, of which the shade gradually 
increases. The third part is the cross. It starts from the 
right foot, coincides for a half space, crosses to the left and 
forms a loop, the center of which is one-third the height of 
the letter, and on the double curve line. A line from the 
top through the center of the letter would be on the main 
slope ; hence it will be seen that the second part, or down- 
stroke, has a little less than the main slope, the first part a 
little more. Observe that the width of the letter gradually 



PENMANSHIP. 741 

increases from the top to the base, and regulate the first 
up-stroke accordingly. 

N. This letter consists of three parts. The first two 
are the same as in A, except in slope ; at the bottom of 
the second a very narrow turn is made, a'nd a curve car- 
ried up from it, parallel to the first up-stroke, four-fifths 
the height of the height of the letter. The spaces on a 
horizontal line across the middle are equal. The shade 
begins as in A, and is heaviest just before the turn. A 
line drawn through the centre of the letter, dividing it into 
two equal lateral halves, would be on the main slope. 
Observe the gradual increase and diminution of width in 
the two sections. See the cautions on A. 

M. This letter has four parts. The first three are the 
same as N, except that the third stroke is carried to the 
full height. The fourth part is curved from the top, and 
closes with the direct oval. Observe the shades carefully. 
A line through the centre, dividing the letter into equal 
lateral halves, would be on the main slope. The widths at 
the top and the two at the base are equal. On a horizontal 
line through the middle there are three equal spaces. 

T has two parts. The strongest curve is in the lower 
section. There is no shade except in the third principle 
and dot. 

F \?, T crossed in the middle by a small double curve 
placed horizonally, which is itself crossed by a small staight 
line on the main slope. 

P. This letter has two parts, the stem and the cap. It 
is on the main slope. The cap begins with the inverted 
oval, two-thirds the height, on the main slope, crossing the 
stem at aight angles, the highest point of the cap being 
in the middle of the line between the section of the oval 
and the stem ; it is continued with the right curve, and 
terminates on the stem in a dot at half the height of the 
letter. On the short diameter of the first oval produced 
to the stem, there are four equal spaces ; on a parallel line 



742 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

from the left curve of the oval crossing the stem to the 
other curve, two equal spaces. A line on the main slope 
through the oval wouldd pass through the dot. 

B. The stem and cap are like P, only that the right side 
is carried down* one-third instead of a half, and the dot is 
omitted. The separation between the upper and lower sec 
tions of the right side is made by a horizontal loop. The 
The lower curve ends with the inverted oval. A straight 
line drawn on the main slope, touching the right side of the 
upper curve, would pass through the center of the lower 
oval ; the lower right curve, therefore, projects beyond the 
upper. Across the first oval to stem on its short diameter 
produced, there are four equal spaces similarly as to the last 
oval, three. On a parallel line from the right side of the first 
oval to the right side of the upper lobe, there are two equal 
parts. 

R is like B as far as the separating loop, which is here 
made at right angles to the main slope. After that the des- 
cendine curve is turned back to finish with the direct oval. 
Across each of the two ovals to the stem on their short diam- 
eters produced, there are four equal spaces. On a parallel 
line from the right side of the first oval to the right side of 
the upper lobe there are two equal spaces. A line on the 
main slope through the oval would pass through the dot. 

X. The capital-stem is made first, writing downwards. 
Then the inverted oval and direct oval joined by a straight 
line on the main slope. The two parts of the letter coin- 
cide through half the height, commencing at one-fourth 
from the top. Across the ovals there are four equal spaces. 
The remark on the dot appHes also. 

6". Begin on base line with the right curve on the slope 
of the connecting lines to half the heighth of the letter, 
then form a loop on the main slope, half the height, com- 
plete a double curve, and end with a dot on the commenc- 
ing line. The dot is haff a space high, and on the main 
slope. The double curve is the essential part of this letter. 



PENMANSHIP. 743 

Notice how the loop is formed on the upper part, and the 
greater intensity of curve is on the lower part. Let the 
shade begin just below the loop, and be nicely graduated. 
Give much attention to the lower turn and the dot. An 
oblique line through the loop lengthwise has similar curves 
formed on the double curve, on the upper left and lower 
right side. 

L. This letter begins like ^S", but the double curve, in- 
stead of making a turn to end with the dot, is carried to 
the left to form a horizontal loop, which rests on the base 
line, and whose thickness is half a space ; it descends on 
the right side to touch the base line at precisely the same 
distance from the crossing as on the left side, and ends 
with the direct oval incomplete. The lower curve of the 
stem is stronger than the upper. It will be observed that 
the upper curve of the horizontal loop, and the curve to 
the rio-ht which touches the base line, togfether form a 
double curve. The right section only of the direct oval is 
used. The shade begins as in the S, below the loop. The 
bottom of this letter, which may be termed the Z-foot, oc- 
curs also in D, Q, and one form of Z. Take care that the 
direct oval is made on the main slope. 

/. Begin with the left curve at the height of one space 
from the base line, carry it round to the right to form a cir- 
cular loop, and continue to curve to the height of the letter. 
The second part of the capital-stem and dot passing through 
the center of the circular loop, whose center is also in the 
middle of the stem. Take care that the upper part of the 
head is not made too broad. Modify the curve gently to 
accord with the upper part of the stem. 

y. This letter begins as the /, but the circular loop is 
not so high ; its lower curve is one space from the base 
line, and the double curve is carried down to form a loop, 
the same length as/, three spaces below the line. The left 
curve of the loop crosses at the base line. A line through 
the length of the loop should pass through the upper part 



744 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of the letter. Notice the slight intensity of the curve in 
both parts of the stem. The heaviest shade is in the 
middle of the right side of the loop. The loop is one space 
wide. 

H. The commencement is the third principle. Next, the 
double curve with a loop, the hair-stroke of which is carried 
across and upwards, on the same slope, to form another 
loop similar to the first ; this side is finished with the 
direct oval. The first section is a little lower than the 
second, which is the full height. The middle of the hair- 
line between the two stems is half the height of the letter; 
hence each loop is a little less than half the height. An 
oblique line through the center, dividing the central space 
equally, would be on the main slope. The width between 
the down-strokes at the middle is one space. The second 
loop is longer than the first. 

K. The first part is T. The second part consists of 
the left curve turned back to make a small separating loop, 
then continued symmetrically with the upper part, and 
closed with the direct oval. The separate curve is inclined 
as in R, and is one-third the heio'ht of the letter from the 
top. The slope is the same as in H. 

V. Commencement. Next, down-stroke straight, shad- 
ed heaviest near the turn, which is narrow, like those of 
the small letters. Then, up-stroke parallel to previous 
one, branching off into the left curve, and terminated at 
the same height as the top of the introductory part. An 
oblique line through the center, dividing the letter into two 
equal parts, would be on the main slope. 

W. Commencement. Next, double curve down, ending 
on the base line ; then, double curve up with more slope. 
The second down-stroke is like the second of A, very 
slightly curved one-third, and then straight. The final 
stroke is the left curve, as in N. The spaces on a horizon- 
tal line drawn through the middle of the letter are equal. 
A line from the middle point at the top through the center 
of the letter would be on the main slope. 



PENMANSHIP. 745 

Z. Commencement. The down-stroke and foot like Z, 
except that the lower curve of the stem is a little less 
intense. It has the main slope. 

D. This letter begins with the double curve, commenced 
at the height of the letter; its foot is like that of L until it 
touches the base line on the right side, whence it is carried 
up as the right side of an oval, crosses the stem near its 
top, and ends with the direct oval. The highest part of 
the letter is well in front of the stem. 

Q. Begin with the inverted oval, and end like L. The 
oval is on the main slope. 

C. Begin with the left curve from the base line to half 
the height ; next, make a loop half the height ; end with 
the dirent oval. Take care that the loop does not pitch 
over to much. It necessarily has more that the main 
slope. 

E. Begin with the left curve a little distance from the 
base line, carry it two-thirds high, and make a loop one- 
third ; continue the curve to form a small separating, nearly 
horizontal, loop to the right, and close with the direct oval. 
The separating loop is a little inclined down to the right, 
to correspond to the lower oval. 

G. Begin with the left curve ; then, a loop two-thirds 
the height of the letter ; continue the down-stroke as the 
bottom of an oval, whose width is twice that of the loop, 
the bottom of the turn being one-fourth from the base line. 
End with a double curve and dot: the double curve is half 
the height of the letter. Both parts of the letter are on the 
main slope. A line through the length of the loop would 
pass through the dot. 

Y. This letter begins with the inverted oval, continues 
like third principle to one-fourth from the baseline, but the 
lower turn much narrower than the upper, and ends with 
the double curve and dot ; height, two-thirds. 

U. Begin with the inverted oval ; continue as Y, except 
that it rests on the base line. The second part is a straight 



746 THE PRACTICAI. HOME FARMER. 

line ending with a direct oval. The top of the second part 
lower than that of the first. Its width is two spaces. 

Classification of Letters. 



Classification relates to the arrangement of the letters 
in groups, according to their possession of common forms. 
Since every letter must have something peculiar to distin- 
guish it from others which have a common principle, 
classification includes a description of this peculiarity, which 
is termed the characteristic. 

Classes of Small Letters. 



The most natural and convenient division of the small 
letters seems to give four classes. Some letters will be 
found to belong to two of them. The reason of the position 
here assigned is obvious. 

First Class. — Those letters which consist chiefly of 
the first, second, and third principles, i, ti, n, in, v, ia, x. 

Second Class. — Those formed from the oval, or the 
fourth principle, o, a, c, e. 

These two classes contain all the short letters except 
two. 

Third Class. — Those which have stems formed of the 
first element, /, q, /, d. These are called the Stem Letters. 

Fourth Class. — Those which have the fifth and sixth 
principles, h, k, I, h,j,g,y, c,f, long j\ These are the Loop 
Letters. 

Besides these, there are two letters whose forms are 
anomalous, r, s. 

Oharacteristics. 



The characteristics of the letters are as follows : 
In the First Class. Of /, one straight line with htrn at 
the bottom and the dot above it; of u, two straight lines 



PENMANSHIP, 747 

with turns at the bottom; of//, tivo straight lines with turns 
at the top; of m, three straight lines with turns at the top; 
of Vy its tivo nearly parallel sides and the dot ; of w, its 
alternately parallel sides and the dot ; of x, the straight 
line forming the cross. 

In the Second Class. Of o, the oval ; of «, the addition 
of the first principle ; of c, the dot ; of e, the loop. 

In the Third Class. Oi p, the third principle affixed; 
of q, the fourth principle prefixed ; of /, the cross ; of d, 
the fourth principle prefixed to the /-stem without the 
cross. 

In the Fourth Class. Oi h, the third principle affixed; 
of k, the knot or kink ; of /, the turn at the bottom ; of b, 
the parallel sides of the lower part and the dot; of y, the 
dot ; of g, the fourth principle prefixed ; of y, the third 
principle prefixed ; of z, the second principle and shoulder; 
in the other form, the zig-zag ; of y, the knot. 

In the anomalous letters. Of r, the dot and shoulder ; 
of s, the twist on the rieht side. 



'&' 



Of Capitals. 



We give the Capitals in the order of their introduction. 
O — A, N, M — P, F — P, B, P, A',— S, L— /, J — H, 
K— V, fP;— Z, D, Q,— C, E— G, Y, U. 



Occurrence of Principles. 

The capital-stem, or line of beauty, ending with a dot, 
occurs in fourteen letters, A, N, M, T, F, P, B, P, X, S, 
/, A', G, V. , 

The capital-stem is written : 

Generally upwards and light, in three letters. A, N, M. 

Downwards and light, in eleven letters, T, F, P, B, R, 
X, H, K, W, Z, D. 



748 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Downwards, light and short, in two letters, G, V. 

Downwards and shaded in the lower curve, in three 
letters, /, L, S. 

Downwards, prolonged into a loop, shaded on the right 
side, in one letter, y. 

The third principle of small letters is used for the com- 
mencement of seven letters, T, G, //, /C, V, IV, Z. 

The direct oval, when of full size, forms the O. 

Four-fifths of the vertical height, it is the end or front 
ofZ>. 

Half the height, it terminates eight letters, M, R, X, 
H, K, C, E, U. 

One-third the height, it ends L, Z, Q. 

The inverted oval, two-thirds the height, commences 
seven letters, P, B, R, X, Q, U, Y. 

Half the hight it ends one letter B. 

A curve and circular loop are used for the head of 

1,7- 

The loop, half the height of the letter, is found in six 
letters, S, L, J, H, C, G; one-third the height, in E. 

The knot, kink, or small separating loop, is found in 
three letters, B, R, K; turned in the opposite direction, 
in E. 

The horizontal loop, or Z-foot, is found in four letters, Z, 
D, Q, Z. 

The first element, very slightly curved to one-third from 
the top, is found in A, N, M, W ; straight thronghout, and 
closed by a turn, in V. 

Combination of Letters. 



Combination treats of the arrangement of letters in 
words at proper distances. This is generally spoken of as 
spacing. It is effected by the connecting lines of the two 
letters running into one another, and thus forming one line, 
which may be distinguished as the combining line. 



PENMANSHIP. 749 

Good taste requires that the letters in a word should 
look about the same distance apart ; in other words, that 
the space on the line which the word occupies should be 
evenly filled. If this is neglected, the writing will look 
"patchy," — crowded in one place, scattered in another. 
We propose, therefore, to give rules for these distances, 
and to point out the reasons on which they depend. 

Every letter ends with a straight line having a diagonal 
connecting line with a turn, as u, or without a turn, asy, q ; 
or is an oval with a horizontal connecting line ; or is open 
on the right side, as c and c. Every letter begins with a 
straight line, having a diagonal connecting line without a 
turn, as u, h, p, or with a turn, as ;z, y; or is an oval, as, 
0, a; or is open on the left side, as s, in which the up-stroke 
is merely the connecting line. The combination of these 
different classes of letters may be determined by the fol- 
lowing rules: 

Rule i. — When two straight lines, or a straight line 
and an oval, are united by one turn and a combining line, 
or by a combining line only, the distance between them is 
one space, the height of o ; as ii. ni, it, ih, ip ; io, ie ; gi, 
go, gu, etc. Between is, us, etc., the distance is really the 
same, because the width of .y equals that of ^; but since we 
have to measure to the right side, it is a space and a half 

Remark. — In it, ih, ip, where the combining line joins 
the straight line at one-half, one-third, and the top, respec- 
tively, the distance is kept by giving less slope to the com- 
bining line. In gi, qu, etc., the same means are used. 

Rule 2. — When two straight lines are united by two 
turns and a combining line, the distance is one space and 
a half ; as in, ir, nu, my, pn, etc. 

Remark. — This gives room enough to make the turns 
properly, and the line crossing diagonally prevents the dis- 
tance from seeming too wide. 

Rule 3. — When two ovals, or an oval and a straight 
line, are united by a combining line only, or by a combin- 



yS0 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ing line and turn, the distance is three-quarters of a space ; 
as 00, oc, od, ba, ve, wo ; oi, at, oh, op, vi ; on, vn, etc. The 
last part of b, v, w, is equivalent to the oval. In os the 
distance is really the same, since .y is the width of o ; but 
as we measure to the right side, it is a little more than one 
space. 

Remark. — A full space for the distance mentioned in 
the first part of this rule would be too much, because, as 
the connecting line is horizontal, there is nothing to dis- 
guise it. We have, therefore, to bring the main lines 
nearer. 

Rule 4. — When c or e precedes a letter beginning like 
u, or an oval, the distance is one space and a half; as ci, ci, 
cl, el, cp ; CO, eo, ce, ee, etc. 

Remark. — The distance in this case is measured from 
the left side of the c and e, and is crossed by the combining 
line diagonally. 

General Remark.— The combining line does not have 
an invariable slope, but is determined by the necessities 
arising from the rules of combination. 

Rule 5. — Words are written about one space apart. 
This, however, depends very much on whether we wish to 
give the writing a free or a condensed appearance. 




^BeeR-RGGPIRG*^ 



BeeR-RGGPiRG. 



\\ J HERE are, properly speaking, only two methods of 
r-^ book-keeping, founded on distinct principles, viz., 
Single and Double Entry. Single Entry is the more 
simple, and is generally adopted by shopkeepers and others 
who deal in a great variety of articles, where the sales are 
small and numerous; and to such it is pecuiarly applicable, 
as they have seldom time to record them particularly. 
There is merely required a memorial of occurrences, in the 
order of time, with a Ledger, in which the names of all par- 
ties between whom transactions take place are entered; 
debtor and creditor accounts of each party being- arranged 
on the two opposite pages which are presented at an open- 
ing, the first on the right hand, and the second on the left. 
By this method the Ledger is defective, since it contains no 
accounts of cash, bills, or goods; consequently it affords to 
the owner no knowledge of these particulars, but only 
records the debts due to and by him, with, at most, the 
accounts of stock, family expenses, and shop furniture. 
The Italian method of Double Entry differs from Single 
Entry chiefly in making cash, stock, goods, etc., parties as 
well as persons, and in making a debtor and creditor 
account in every transaction. Thus, if cloth is sold to A, 
A is made debtor to cloth, and cloth creditor to A ; if cash 
is received from B, cash is made debtor to B, and B cred- 
itor to cash ; and in every case the party, whether animate 
or inanimate, which receives is debtor to that which pays, 
and inversely. A double entry is therefore requisite in 
every transaction, and a balance may at any time be struck 
between things as well as persons ; and in order to avoid 
the confusion which would arise in a direct transfer of 
account from the Wastebook to the Ledger before the 

753 +8 



754 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

proper relation of debtor and creditor in each transaction is 
distinctly ascertained and recorded, they are first entered 
in the Journal in the same form in which they must appear 
in the Ledger. But in order to form a proper criterion of 
the existing methods of book-keeping, it will be necessary 
to compare them as we will now do, before proceeding 
further. 

As the Ledger, when kept by Single Entry, contains no 
accounts of cash, bills, and goods, it consequently affords 
to the owner no knowledge of these particulars ; but these 
must be collected from the subsidiary books. In a simple 
trade, such as the set by single entry which follows this, 
the information wanted may be obtained by the present 
arrangement of the Day-book, Cash-book, and Stock-book; 
but in an extensive and diversified concern this arrange 
ment would by no means be advisable, as the objects in 
question could not be easily and concisely obtained. Post- 
ing from a number of books, when one only is necessary, 
is of itself an insuperable objection, because it is more 
liable to errors and ommissions ; and from the unsightly 
appearance these books would exhibit by the multiplicity of 
figures, the eye would soon become fatigued and bewild- 
ered. It is both a slovenly and tedious method to enter 
each sum singly into the Ledger, and unnecessarily swells 
the accounts with lines, as by the Italian method, which 
increase the labor and difficulty of balancing. Besides, 
previous to taking a general balance, the number of entries, 
such as interest, commission, and postage, arising from the 
accounts current, must unavoidably be made either with a 
journal entry, or each entered singly by a simple transfer 
from one account to another, which is, in fact, a double 
entry, and would be both awkward and improper. The 
Cash-book might be constructed with columns to show the 
monthly amounts of the cash received and paid on account 
of bills receivable and bills payable, etc.; yet the informa- 
tion in other respects would not be obtained, for the 



BOOK-KEEPING. 755 

amounts of the sales, of consignments and shipments, etc., 
monthly, would not be shown by Single entry. 

Although the Ledger, by the Italian method of book- 
keeping, contains accounts of cash, bills, goods, and other 
property, yet the arrangement of it and the Journal is by 
no means adequate to the purposes of an extensive and 
complicated concern. By making all the original entries 
in one book, namely, the Waste-book, a jumble of trans- 
actions so heterogeneous is produced as cannot fail to ren- 
der the business not only more complex in itself, and con- 
sequently more difficult, than if a separate book wer«e kept 
for each kind ; but when dispatch is required, as in selling, 
shipping goods, etc., the greatest inconvenience is expe- 
rienced, as only one person can be employed at once in 
making the entries. But the principal defects lie in jour- 
nalizing daily, in posting each sum singly into the Ledger, 
and opening separate accounts for each kind of goods.- 
Hence the impracticability of following this method without 
the books of an extensive business falling behind, the 
patience of the book-keeper exhausted, or, perhaps his 
health destroyed. Besides swelling the Journal and par- 
ticularizing the Ledger to an unweildy size, it renders the 
balancing of the latter a laborious and, in most cases, a 
difficult task. 

By the practice at present followed in the counting- 
house, the Waste-book is not recognized by that title. It 
is represented, however, by a number of subsidiary books, 
suited to the nature of the business carried on, each con- 
taining such transactions as exclusively apply to its title. 
Thus, a Cash-book, in which is entered the money received 
and payed ; a Bill-book, in which are recorded the bills re- 
ceived and accepted ; a Purchase-book, or Invoice-book 
Inward, in which are entered or posted invoices of all goods 
purchased ; a book of shipments, or Invoice-book Outward, 
in which are entered all goods shipped ; an Account Sales- 
book, in which are entered the particulars of such goods 



756 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

as are sold on commission, with the charges attending 
them ; a Day-book, in which are entered the sales of goods 
on the merchant's own account, with such other transac- 
tions as do not apply to any of the above books: An Ac- 
count Current-book, containing duplicates of the accounts 
as they stand in the Ledger, with the particulars of each 
article drawn out in a plain circumstantial manner, being 
exact copies of the accounts transmitted or delivered to the 
persons whose names they bear. These are the principal 
subsidiary books used either in inland or foreign trade, and 
form which the Journal or Ledger are made. The division 
of the Waste-book into a number of books adapted to the 
nature of the business, is a valuable modern improvement, 
both for simplicity and dispatch. By bringing each kind of 
transactions together, and dividing the labor among a 
number of hands, the utmost simplicity, accuracy, and dis- 
patch are obtained. 

The arrangement of the Journal, by combining together 
each class of accounts, and carrying only the amounts of 
these once a month into the Ledger, not only simplifies the 
Journal, but greatly abridges the former of these books, 
because no more than twelve lines yearly will be required 
in general at the accounts, though transactions be ever so 
numerous. 

The Ledger, when kept by this method, may therefore 
be considered a general index to the Journal, as that book 
is to the subsidiary books. By this means the case of each 
account is brought into a concise point of view, and is 
easily examined, without fatiguing the eye with a multi- 
plicity of figures, which unavoidably takes place when each 
sum is posted separately, as by the Italian method. It 
must also be observed that instead of opening distinct 
accounts for each kind of goods, as by the Italian method, 
only one general account of goods is by the present practice 
opened ; for when the articles are numerous, one account 
of goods in the Ledger is quite sufficient, and will be. found 



BOOK-KEEPING. 757 

swto aner every useful purpose. In an extensive business, 
where separate accounts for each kind of goods have been 
attempted, it was found difficult to keep the Journal and 
Ledger from falHng behind. The Stock-book is the proper 
place for every particular of this sort, which may be kept 
exclusively by one of the junior clerks, when the business 
requires it. The result of the general account in the 
Ledger of goods will always correspond with the particular 
profits and losses from the Stock book. 

But superior as the present practice is for saving both 
time and labor in posting, it will be found still more so at 
balancing the Ledger. What was formerly a laborious, 
and, in some cases, next to an impracticable task, where 
that book was posted daily, namely, to bring the stock and 
balance accounts to agree (chiefly owing to the numerous 
entries on the property and nominal accounts), is by the 
present method completely avoided, and that which was 
before the labor of weeks, can now be accomplished in as 
many hours or days. 

It will be of more advantage to the learner to procure 
or prepare for himself several sheets of ruled paper, with 
cash columns, and enter each transaction in the order of 
time, than to trace the entries in the Day-book and Cash 
book which we have prepared. In the first case he will 
find the task, as he proceeds, familiar and interesting, while 
his knowledge and self-reliance will be increasing; where- 
. as, in the other case, he will acquire so superficial an 
acquaintance with the accounts that it will soon vanish from 
his memory. The Day-book is arranged so as to admit of 
entries being made both of sales and purchases, the former 
on the right side, and the latter on the left. By this means 
he will be taught what debit and credit entries are before 
he is called upon to post the Ledger, and, moreover, avoid 
the risk of carrying error and confusion forward to the last 
stage of his work. It has been observed that in an exten- 
sive business it is preferable to enter the purchases in one 



75? THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

book and the sales in another ; and by adding these up 
monthly the amounts of each would be shown, which would 
enable the owner to extend or lessen the purchases as cir- 
cumstances point out. The Day-book, as now given, will 
also serve this purpose, only that instead of having separate 
books for the sales and purchases, they are here arranged 
in one, and disposed, as we have said, in the form of debtor 
and creditor. It therefore follows that if we add at any 
time to the credit side the value of the article remaining on 
hand, the difference betwixt the sums total on the two sides 
will show the whole gain or loss upon the goods, and by 
entering the charges, etc., attending the business, with the 
discount, both against and in favor of it, to the proper sides, 
this book will exhibit the result of the whole. 

The following general rule is sufficient to direct the 
learner respecting debtor and creditor. The person from 
whom you buy goods on trust, or receive money, is Creditor, 
and, on the contrary, the person to whom you sell goods on 
credit, or pay money, is Debtor. 

For instance, if you buy goods on credit from John 
Carter, he, being the deliverer, is creditor for the value, 
and when you pay him for them, he being the person who 
receives, is debtor. On the same principle, if you sell 
goods on credit to Phillip Meek, he, being the receiver, is 
debtor; and when he pays you for them, he, being the 
deliverer, is creditor. The same rule is observed when you 
contract or discharge a debt by any other transaction. Thus 
the person who becomes indebted to you is debtor, and the 
person to whom you become indebted is creditor. In the 
same manner, the person whose debt you pay is made 
debtor, and he who pays a debt to you, or for you, is 
creditor. 

In the Day-book, enter on the debtor, or left hand, page 
all the purchases, with the discounts allowed by you, as 
these occur ; also all the petty expenses, monthly. Enter 
on the creditor, or right-hand page, all the sales, with the 



BOOK-KEEPING. 759 

discount or interest allowed to you ; also the value of goods 
on hand at balancing. 

The Cash-book. — This book is very useful, whether 
the Ledger be kept by Single or Double Entry, in order to 
show at all times the money you receive and pay, and how 
much at any time should remain in hand. On the debtor, 
or left-hand page, is entered every sum you receive ; and 
on the creditor, or right-hand page, every sum you pay. 
The difference between the two sides is called a balance, 
which should always agree with the money remaining in 
hand. This book is generally added up and the amounts 
set down, at the end of each month ; and the balance is 
entered on the credit side to make the two sides equal, and 
likewise upon the debtor side of succeeding month. 

The Bill-book is divided into two parts. In the first 
are entered all bills which you receive, and are therefore 
called Bills Receivable. It is ruled with a number of col- 
umns for recording the several clauses of the bill. When 
kept correctly the blank spaces of the last column towards 
the right hand will always show the bills which remain in 
your possession. As soon as a bill passes out of your 
hands, by beeing either paid, discounted, or endorsed to 
another person, it must be marked off in the above column. 
In the second part are entered all the bills which you 
accept, or agree to pay, and are therefore called Bills Pay- 
able. As soon as you pay a bill, it should also be marked 
off in the column towards the right hand ; when, of course, 
the blank spaces will just present such bills of yours as are 
unpaid. 

A dealer who does a cash business only requires but a 
single book — the Cash-book. In it he enters on its appro- 
priate side all his transactions : one the one said all he pays 
out, and what for, on the other all he receives and its 
vouchers. The balance between the two sides will at any 
time show the state of his affairs. • Suspose, for instance, 
his Cash-book shows on the debtor side a total transaction 



y6o 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



of $1,450.73, and on the credit side $659.32, the difference, 
$791.41, is the sum which he ought to have on. hand. 
These will appear in the Cash-book, thus : 

Dr. Cr. 



1.450 73 



1.450 73 



Balance 



659 32 



791 41 



1.450 73 



To balance brought 

forward . . . 791 41 

The transactions of which the foregoing forms a total 

may be like the following : 



CASH. 



Dr. 



Cr. 



18S0. 
Jan. I. 
2. 
3- 
4- 
S- 
6. 
8. 

9- 
II. 
12. 
IS- 
16. 

17- 
19. 
20. 
22. 

23- 
24. 



Capital I,cxx) 

Sales 



I,CXX) 


00 


10 


IS 


8 


94 


17 


20 


12 


80 


>9 


72 


20 


07 


10 


1.5 


24 44 1 


l8 


41 


7 


16 


9 


02 


18 


27 


21 


06 


26 81 1 


41 


94 


73 


20 


64 


16 


47 


23 


$1,450 73 



Jan 



. I. Pd. Smith & Co. for lo » 

bbls. flour 52 50 

2. Expenses 20 15 

3. " 10 00 

4- " 19 SO 

5- " 425 

6. " 130 

8. Wages So 00 

9. Expenses 24 00 

10. " 19 72 

11. " 60 40 

12. " 72 16 

'3 " 4001 

15- " 27 90 

16. Wages 50 00 

17. Expenses 2700 

18. " 192s 

20. " 7 14 

22. W.iges 5000 

23. Expenses 17 84 

24. " 86 20 



$659 32 



A single operation will enable you to ascertain at any 
time the state of your affairs. Thus : 

Balance ot cash on hand ... 7^1 41 

200 00 



Cost of goods in stock 



991 41 



^, 



BOOK-KEEPING. 76I 

If you owe anything on your stock, you must arrive at 
the result differently. Thus : 

Balance of cash on hand - - 791 41 

Cost of goods in stock - - - 400 00 



1,191 41 
Deduct amounts due to various persons for 

stock ------ 200 00 



Balance as before - - - - 991 41 

So if you give no credit, but sell only for cash over your 
counter, you need only the one book, the Cash-book, which 
will at any time you wish, if correctly kept, show the actual 
state of your business. 

But as very few tradesmen or dealers confine themselves 
to a cash business, it becomes necessary to have other books, 
so when credit is given a Ledger is demanded, so that the 
dealer may at all times know not only what cash he has on 
hand, but what money is owing him. 

Suppose you are a bookseller, and your customers keep 
running accounts, you will find it necessary to have at least 
thr.ee books, a Cash-book, for the entries of moneys received 
and paid out ; a Blotter, as it is usually called, for record- 
ing the daily transactions ; and a Ledger, for posting the 
accounts. 

A customer, say Mr. Robert Walpole, comes to you and 
asks how his account stands. Looking at the index in the 
front of your ledger, you find Mr. Walpole's account on 
page 96. Turning to this page, you discover the following 
statement : 



j62 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



MR. ROBERT WALPOLE. 



Dr. 



Cr. 



1880. 
Jan. 



To mdse 

My acceptance at 3 

mos., dated April 10. 
Cash paid yoiir order in 

favor of Brown & Co 



66 
60 


00 
00 


1880. 
Jan. 


10 


25 

16 


18 


14 








'44 


52 









By rash 

Your acquaintance at 
3 mos., due April 13. 



8000 



50 



3000 



The debtor side, or what he owes you, is $144.25, and 
the creditor side, or what you owe him, is $130.00; the 
difference, $14.52, being in your favor, is therefore his 
debit to you. If he pays you, enter it on the cash-book 
and on the credit side of the account in the ledger, thus 
making it balance. 



NARRATIVE OF TRANSACTIONS. 
1S78. 
Jan. I. Began trade with $2,oc». 

Bought goods as follows : 

Of I. W. Bouton $150 20 

of bodd, Mead & Co. . 241 00 
Of A. S. Barnes & Co. . 300 00 
Of D. Appleton & Co.. 124 30 

Sold 24 Annuals over the 

counter for ready money, 

amounting to 14 80 

Jan. 2. Paid J. W. Bouton, Cash. 80 00 
Paid Uodd, Mead & Co. do 120 00 
Paid A. S. Barnes & Co. do 150 00 
Paid U. .\ppleton &Co. do 61 00 
Accepted the following bills 

drawn on me: 
J. W. Bouton, at 2 months 40 00 
D., M. & Co., at 2 months go 00 
A. S. B. & Co. , at 3 months 60 00 
D. A. & Co., at 1 month. . 40 00 
Bought of A. D. F. Ran- 
dolph, goods, value 1 98 64 

Sold Tenter & Co., of 
Philadelphia, as follows: 
120 Dodd. Mead & 
Co.'s hand books 

at 20c 24 00 

80 Novels 126 00 

40 Assorted books. 24 00 



Jan. 3. 



Terms, half Cash, half Bills 

at 3 months. 
Received from Tenter & 

Co.'s house in town, cash 



74 00 



■\ii 20 



Idem, bill at 3 months. ... 36 20 



HOW THEY ARE TO BE ENTERED 
IN THE BOOKS. 
This item being Cash in hand must be 
placed on the debtor side of the Cash Book. 

To be entered in the Day Book as goods 
bought at the time of receiving the invoices. 
Each name, with the relative amount of in- 
voice, to form a separate entry. 

To the Dr. side of Ca.sh Book, as ready 
money received for goods. 

To be entered on the Cr. .side of Cash 
Book, each name and amount forming a 
separate line. 



To be entered in the Bills Payable 
Book, on separate lines, according to the 
printed form sold for that purpose. 

As before. 



To be charged in the Day Book, explain- 
ing every particular relating to the condi- 
tions of sale, and how forwarded. 



To be entered in Cash Book as cash 
received for account of Tenter & Co., Phila- 
delphia. 

To be entered in the Bills Receivable 
to the account of Tenter & Co., Philadel- 
phia, according to the printed forms. 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



763 



Sold B. Flock, of Pitts- 
burgh, 42 assorted books 50 80 
Received from Flock's 

house in town, cash 20 00 

And a bdl at 3 months 

date 30 80 

Jan. 4. Sold Roberts Bros. , Boston 
36 Elements of Com- 
merce 74 3^ 

Received from Roberts 
Bros., of New York, for 
account of their house in 
Boston, their acceptance 

at 2 months for 74 3^ 

Paid A. D. F. Randolph on 
account of what I owe 
him : 

Bill paid to me by 

Flock 38 80 

Bill paid tome by 
Roberts Bros. .74 32 

Together 105 12 



As before. 
As before. 
As before. 

As before. 



As before. 

This is a very peculiar entry, and one which per- 
sons ignorant of book-keeping will find compara- 
tively difficult to arrange. As it is, however, a 
transaction which occurs continually, due attention 
ought to be given to it. 

There are two ways of entering it — one by the 
Cash Kook, the other by the Dav Book. If by the 
forfner, the amount must be first entered on the Dr. 
side as received for the bills, and then the Cr. side 
as paid to the parties. This, however, is a mode I 
do not like, because, in the first place, it is hot a 
cash transaction at all: and secondly, because an 
entry on the Dr. side of the Cash Book is obliged 
to be crpati'd in order to balance the other on the 
Cr. side. An entry by the Day Book is far the 
best, as notliing more is necessary than to charge 
the person to whom the bdls are paid, with the 
amount of them, in the same way as for goods sold. 
The latter method is the one adopted in the exam- 
ples. 



Bought of W. H. Vernon, 

20 reams of paper 170 00 

.Sold him 240 odd volumes 
all at 82 30 

Sold for ready money over 
the counter, 6 vols. Hume 
and Smollett's History 

of England 6 60 

Jan. 6. Paid trade charges and 

wages this day 4 22 



Day Book, as efore. 
As before. 



As before. 

To be entered on the Cash Book, under 
the head of Trade Expenses. 



Paid expenses to this day. . 6 60 
Feb. 5. Paid cash for my accept- 
ance 10 D. Appleton & 
Co 40 00 



Mar. J. Idem to J. W. Bouton.... 

Idem Uodd, Mead & Co. . 

Idem A. S. Barnes & Co. . 

Received the amount of 
Tenter's acceptance, paid 
me on the 3cl' Jan 



Apr. 



7. Flock s acceptance returned 

to me by A. I). F. Ran- 
dolph, to whom I had 
paid it, it not having been 
honored by the acceptor 

8. Paid one month's Rent .... 

Income Tax 
City Taxes 



40 00 
go 00 
60 00 



36 20 



30 80 
80 00 
20 24 
15 20 



Idem. 

To be entered in the Cash Book to the 
charge of Bills Payable, specifying the num- 
ber of the Bill, D. Appleton & Co. having 
been debited with the amount when my ac- 
ceptance was given. 

Idem. 

Idem. 

Idem. 

To be entered in the Cash Book to the 
account of Bills Rt'rei7'ahle, specifying the 
number. Tenter & Co. having been credited 
for the bill, when I received it from them. 

As I was obliged to take up this Bill, in 
other words, to pay it, for account of Flock, 
who ought to have paid it, I charge Flock in 
the Cash Book with the amount I pay to 
A. D. F. Randolph. 

In the Cash Book, in the same way I 
entered trade and other expenses. 



764 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Nov, I. Sold the following goods : 

Ramsden & Co 2000 To be entered in the Day Book, as before. 

S. Green 18 24 

G. Barrows 80 00 

W.Sinn 12000 

V. S. Brown 74 20 

Dec. I. Received the following 

acceptances, at three 

months: 

Ramsden & Co 20 00 To be entered in the Bills Receivable 

S. Green 18 24 Book, as before. 

G. Barrows 80 00 

W. Sinn 1 20 00 

V. S. Brown 74 20 

Dec. 20. Bought goods as follows: 

From Leggat Bros. ... 52 20 To be entered in the Day Book, as before. 

From Houghton, Mif- 
flin & Co 200 00 

From S. R. Wells. . . . 192 40 

From Jas. R. Osgood 

& Co 170 80 

Dec. 30. Gave my acceptances as fol- 
lows, at three months : 

Leggat Bros 52 20 To be entered in the Bills Payable 

To Houghton, MifBin Book, as before. 

& Co 20000 

To S. R. Wells 192 40 

To James R. Osgood & 

Co 170 80 

Having entered all these various items in their proper 
books, as explained, we proceed to transfer them under their 
respective heads in the Ledger, which is technically called 
Posting. First, taking the Day Book, we posiaW un er the 
date of the ist of January ; then follows the Cash Book in 
the same way, and finally the two Bill Books, care being 
taken to mark the proper page of the Ledger in the columns 
left for that purpose in the other books, and vice versa to 
note in the Ledger, in like manner, the folio of the book 
from which the entry has been extracted. Thus, day by 
day, all the entries in the Ledger are condensed from these 
four books. 

All the items contained in the Cash Book, Bill Beceiv- 
able and Payable Books, and Day Book having been prop- 
erly posted in the Ledger, the next operation will be to 
Balance ! This is generally done on the last day of the 
year, at which time the value of the stock on hand is taken. 
By reference to the Ledger, it will be seen how those 
accounts are ruled off which balance of themselves, and in 
what way the balances of the others are brought down, some 



fiOOK-KEEPING. 765 

being amounts we owe, and others due to us. The balances 
due us stand upon the Debtor side of each account, and 
those we owe on the Creditor side. 

Having done this, we next proceed to draw up the 
Balance Sheet, by which we shall ascertain the amount of 
profit made or loss incurred upon the year's transactions, 
after having paid all expenses and trade charges. In order, 
to do this properly, we must collect into one ^wmallwe owe, 
and into another all we are possessed of , and the difference 
between the two will be the amount we are worth. The 
amount we owe are to be found in the Ledger and the Bills 
Payable Book. The amounts dtie to us in the Ledger, also, 
and the Bills Receivable Book. Besides these we must 
reckon as assets. Cash in hand, as will appear by balancing 
Cash Book, and stock on hand, which must be taken at a 
proper valuation. 

On the next will be found a General Balance Sheet, 
drawn up according to these instructions. 



766 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Dr. 



BALANCES. 



AMOUNTS DUE TO ME, OR ASSETS. 



Folio in 
Ledger. 


Accounts extracted. 


Bal's. as 
perLedger 


7 


B. Flock 


$30 


80 




Amount of book debts due TO me 

*Bills Receivable in my hands not yet due . 

Balance of Cash in hand 

Estimated value of stock in hand 

Balance in my favor 

Which shows that after paying house 
and trade charges, rent and taxes, I have 
made a clear net profit of $90.44 on my 
capital of $2,000. 






$30 

312 
1,315 
1,390 


80 

44 
80 
28 




$3-049 


24 




$2,090 


44 



* Enumerate each item. 



BOOK- KEEPING. 



7^1 



31st December, 1880 



Cr. 

AMOUNTS I OWE, OR LIABILITIES. 



Folio in 
the Ledger. • 


Acounts extracts. 

J, W. Bouton - - - - 

Dodd, Mead & Co. - 

A. S. Barnes & Co. - 

D. Appleton & Co. - 

A. D. F. Randolph - 

W. H. Vernon - - - - 

Amount of book debts due BY me. 
Bills accepted by me not yet due* 

Balance carried down - - - 

' 1 


Balances as 
per Ledger. 


I 

2 

3 
4 
5 
6 


$30 

31 
90 
22 
82 
87 


20 
00 
00 
60 
60 

GO 




$343 
614 


40 
40 




$958 
2,090 


80 

44 




$3,049 


24 



• Enumerate each bill separately. 



768 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Dr. 



CASH 



1880. 

Jan. I. 

3- 

4. 


• 
« 

6 

7 

# 


To capital . - . - 
Cash received for goods (ready money). 
Tenter & Co., received for account 

of their house in Baltimore 
Flock ----- 
Cash received for goods (ready mon- 
ey). ----- 


$2,000 
14 

36 
20 

6 


80 

00 
20 

60 




$2 ,067 


60 


Feb. I. 


To balance - - - . 


$1,654 


40 




$1,654 


40 


March i. 


To balance - . . . 


$1,614 


40 




$1,614 


40 


April I . 
6. 


To balance - - 
Bill receivable, No. 101, received 
in cash, this day 


$1,484 
38 


40 
24 




$1,522 


04 


May I. 


To balance - - - - 


$1,315 


80 



Note. — The amounts marked in the folio margin with a star, are not by single 
entry, posted in the Ledger; the Cash Book alone, under that system, being quite 
sufficient for their registry. Only accounts with persons are kept; not with things 
as in Double £ntry. At the same time they may, if wished be posted under their 
respective heads as matters of reference, but care must be taken not to include them in 
the Balance, of which they form ho part. 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



769 



BOOK. 



Cr. 



1880. 
Jan. 2. 



6. 



Feb. 5. 



March 5. 



April 5. 
7- 



By amount paid J. W. Bouton 

Dodd, Mead & Co. 

A. S. Barnes & Co. 

D. Appleton & Co. 



By Trade Charges, Expenses and Wages 
to this day . . . - 



Balance to next month 



By Bill payable, No. 104, due this day 
Balance ----- 



By Bill payable, No. loi, due this day 
do do 102, do 



Balance 



By Bill Payable, No. 103, due this day 

A. D. F. Randolph for Flock's Ac- 
ceptance, due this day, returned 
unpaid - . - . 

One month's rent due this day 

Income Taxes 

City Taxes 



Balance 



$8000 

12000 

15000 

62 



II 



00 



20 



$42320 
$1,65440 



$2,077 



$40 
1,614 



$1,654 



60 



00 
40 



$40 
90 



130 
$1,484 



$1,614 



$60 



30 
80 
20 
15 

$206 
1,315 

$1,522 



40 

00 
00 



00 
40 



40 
00 



80 
00 

24 
20 

4 
80 

04 



^^o 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



DAY BOOK. 



Folio in 








Ledger. 


Bought of J. W. Bouton 

Goods as per invoice 


$150 




I 


20 








2 


Bought of Dodd, Mead & Co. 

Goods as per invoice 


$240 


10 








3 


Bought of A. S. Barnes 

Goods as Der invoice 


$300 










4 


Bought of D. Appleton & Co. 

Goods as per invoice 


$124 


f\C 




-•H 




5 


Bought of A. D. F. Randolph 

Croods as oer invoice 


$188 


6n 




"■d 




6 


Sold Tenter & Co. 

Half Cash. 

Half Three Month's Bill. 
I20 Dodd, Mead & Co.'s Hand Books. . . . 
8o Novels 


$24 
26 

24 


00 
00 




40 Books (assorted) 


00 




Torwarded by Union Express. 






$74 


00 


7 


Sold B. Flock 
84 Assorted Books 


$50 


80 


8 


Sold Roberts Bros. 
72 Klements of Commerce 


$74 


32 




Forwarded per U. S. Express. 


S 


Paid A. D. F. Randolph 

Flock's Acceptance, due April 7 

Roberts Bros. ' Acceptance, due March 7 


$30 
■ 74 


80 
32 




$107 


12 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



771 



DAY BOOK (Continued.) 



Folio in 




$170 






Bought of W. H. Vernon 

200 Reams of Paper 




9 


00 


9 


Sold W. H.Vernon 

240 Odd Volumes, all for 


$82 


30 


lO 


Sold Ramsden & Co. 

Books 


$20 


00 


1 I 


Sold S. Green 

Books 


$18 


24 








12 


Sold G. Barrows 

Books 


$80 


00 


13 


SoldW. Sinn 

Books 


$120 


GO 








14 


Sold V. S. Brown 

Books 


$74 


20 








IS 


Bought of Leggat Bros. 

Goods as per invoice 


$52 


GO 








i6 


Bought of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 
Goods as r>er invoice 


$200 


GO 








17 


Bought of S. R. Wells 

Goods as per invoice 


$192 


40 








i8 


Bought of J. R. Osgood & Co. 

Goods as per invoice 


$170 


80 



N. .B. — The folios should be marked in 7-cd ink. 



772 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



iSSo. 



BILLS RECEIVABLE. 



Folio. 


Number of 
the bill. 


On whose account. 


Date. 


Time. 


When dut.- 


.Amount. 


6 


lOI 

I02 

'03 

104 

106 
107 
108 


Tenter & Co 


Jan. 3 

4 

4 

Dec. I 


3 mos. 

3 

2 

3 ■ 

3 

3 

3 

3 ■ 


.\l.iil 6 


$36 
32 
74 


70 


7 
S 


B. Block 

Roberts Bros 


So 
32 


March 7 

1S79. 
March 4 








$'43 


_32 




20 
18 
80 
120 
74 








24 










W. Sinn 

V. S. Brown 




00 


■3 
14 












$3«2 


44 



188a 



BILLS P.WABLE. 



Folio. 



'5 
16 

>7 
18 



Number of 
Bill. 



lOI 

102 
103 
104 



I OS 
106 
107 
108 



By whom drawn. 



T. W. Bouton 

bodd, Mead & Co 

\. S. Barnes & Co. . . 
D, Appleton & Co. . . 

Leggat Bros 

Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

S. R. Wells 

Jas. R. Osgood & Co. . 



Date. 


Time. 


Jan. 2 


2 mos. 


— — 2 


2 - — 


2 


3 — 


2 


I 


Dec 30 


3 


30 


3 


30 


3 


30 


3 



When due. 



March 5 

5 

April 5 
Feb. 5 



1879. 
April 2 

2 

2 

2 



Amount. 



$40 
90 
60 
40 



$230 



$52 
200 
192 
170 

$615 



00 
00 
00 
00 



20 
00 
40 
80 

40 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



773 



THE LEDGER. 



Folio I. 
Dr. 



}. W. BOUTON. 



Cr. 



1880 
Jan. 

Dec 



To cash 

To balance carried down 
To bills payable, No. loi 



$8oTO 
40|0o 
3020 

15020 



1880 
Jan. 



Dec 



3' 



By goods. 



By balance brought down 



$15020 

15020 
1 50' 20 



Folio 2. 
Dr. 



DODO, MKAD & CO. 



Cr. 



1880 






Jan. 


2 


I 


Dec 


3' 





To cash 

To bills payable, No. 102 
To bal. carried down. . . 



1 




|i88o 






$I20 


00 


Jan. 


I 


I 


90 


00 








31 


00 
00 








241 






Dec 


31 





By goods. 



By bal. brought down , 



$241 ( 



241 



00 
00 



Folio 3. 
Dr. 



A. S. BARNES & CO. 



Cr. 



1880 






Jan. 


2 


I 




2 


I 


Dec 


3' 





To cash 

To }>ills payable, No. 103 
To bal. carried down. . . 







1880 






$150 
60 


00 
00 


Jan. 


I 


I 


90 


00 
00 


Dec 


31 




300 





By goods. 



By bal. brought down 



$300 c 



300 
90 



00 
00 



Folio 4. 

Dr. 
1880 
Jan. 



D. APPLETON & CO. 



Cr. 



Dec 



To cash 

To bills payable, No. 104 
To bal. carried down . . . 







|i88o 






$62 


00 


Jan. 


I 


I 


40 


00 








22 


60 








124 


60 












Dec 


31 





By goods. 



By bal. brought down . 



$124 



60 



124^60 
22I60 



Folio 5. 
Dr 

1880 
Jan. 4 

Dec 31 



A. D. F. RANDOLPH. 



Cr. 



No two bills receivable, 

paid them 

To bal. carried down. . . 



$106 
82 



188 



1880 
Jan. 

Dec 



31 



By goods. 



By bal. brought down . 



$188 



188 



82 



60 

60 
60 



774 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Folio 6 
Dr. 




TENTER & CO. 


Philadelphia. 


Cr 




1880 
Jan. 


3 


I 
I 


To goods 


%n 


40 


1880 
Jan. 


■3 


I 
I 




$36 
36 

72 








By bill receivable No. loi 


20 




72 


40 


40 











Folio 7. 
Dr. 



W. SINN, Partsburg, West Va. 



Cr. 



1880 
Jan. 
Ap'l 



Dec 31 



To goods 

To your acceptance re- 
turned unpaid 



To bal. brought down. . 







1880 






$50 


80 


Jan. 


3 


II 


30 


80 


Dec 


4 
3' 


I 


81 


60 








30 


80 









By cash 

By bill receivable No. 102 
By bal. carried down . 



$ 20 
30 
30 



81 



00 
80 
80 

60 



Folio 8 
Dr. 






ROBERTS BROS., 


Boston. 


Cr. 




1880 
Jan. 


4 


I 


To goods.. . . 


1880 
$7431 Jan- 


4 


1 


By bill receivable No. 103 


$74 


32 



Folio 9. 
Dr. 



W. H. VERNON. 



Cr. 



1880 
Jan. 
Dec 



To goods 

To bal. carried down. . 



$82 
87 



169 



1880 
Jan 



Dec 



By goods. 



By bal. brought down . 



$16930 



169 



30 



87I00 



Folio 10. 
Dr. 


KAMSDEN & CO. 

Cr 




1880 

Nov 


■ 


I 




$20 


20 


18S0 
Dec 


I 


I 


By bill receivable No. 104 










Folio II. 
Dr. 


S. GREEN. 

Cr. 


1880 
Nov 


I 


I 


To goods 


$18 


24 


1880 
Dec 


I 


I 


By bill receivable No. 105 


$18 


24 


Folio 12. 
Dr. 


GEORGE BARROWS. 

Cr. 


1S80 
Nov 


I 


I 




$Sooo 


1880 
Dec 


I 


I 


By bill receivable No. 106 


$8000 








Folio 13. 
Dr. 


W. SINN. 

Cr. 


1880 

Nov 


I 


I 


To goods 


$12000 


1880 
Dec I 


I 


By bill receivable No. 107 


$120 


no 








-1 




1 





BOOK-KEEPING. 



775 



Folio 14. 



V. S. BROWN. 



Dr. 
















Cr. 




1880 

Nov 


I 


I 


To goods 


$7420 


1880 

Dec 


I 


I 


By bill receivable No. 108 


$7420 


Folio 15. LEGGAT BROS. 
Dr. 


Cr. 


1880 
Per 


30 


' 


To bills payable, No. 105 


$S2J20 


1880 
Dec 30 


I 




$52 










Folio 16. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
Dr. 


Cr. 


1880 
T>pr 


30 


I 


To bills payable, No. 106 


$200 <» 

■ 1 


1880 
Dec 


30 


I 


By eoods 


$20000 






Folio 17. S. R. WELLS. 
Dr. 


Cr. 


1880 
Pfr 


30 


I 


To bills payable, No. 107 


$19240 

1— 


1880 
Dec 


3° 


I 




$19240 






Folio iS. JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO. 
Dr. 


Cr. 


1880 
Per 


30 


I 


To bills payable. No. 108 


$17080 


1880 
Dec 


30 


I 




$17080 








- 



After the Ledger has been duly examined, and it is seen 
that the balances are struck and brought down correctly, pro- 
ceed to observe if those balances are transferred properly to 
the general Balance Sheet at page 213, which is the last 
operation of all. 

Beyond this. Book-keeping by Single Entry " can no 
further go." It is only a confined system, and its results 
are never demonstrated or proved. Errors of omission, of 
addition, and of wrong posting, may, and in large establish- 
ments do, frequently occur without any means of detection 
except the tiresome and frequently fallacious method of a 
re-examination of the entire books by another person. But 
by Double Entry, provided the system be a correct one, 
no error of any kind can escape without detection, because 
everything is verified by an infallible rule. Nevertheless the 
dilligent study of the method of Single Entry is absolutely 
necessary as a preparatory step towards acquiring a knowl- 



'jy6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

edge of the other. No one can keep a set of books by 
Double Entry who does not understand Single Entry, 
because the one is based upon the other. When the learner 
has well studied what has already been laid before him, let 
him pass on to the following pages, where he will find the 
same transactions registered by Double Entry. 



Book-keeping by Double Entry. 



This method differs from the former chiefly in making 
cash, stock, goods, etc., parties, as well as persons, and in 
making a debtor and creditor account in every transaction. 
Thus, if cloth is sold to A, A is made debtor to cloth, and 
cloth creditor to A ; if cash is received from B, cash is made 
debtor to B, and B creditor to cash ; and in every case the 
party, whether animate or inanimate, which receives is debtor 
to that which pays, and inversely. In Single Entry the 
record is single, and there it ends, whereas in Double Entry 
every transaction has a debit and credit, and every account 
in which it is not so represented is imperfect. Two parties are 
necessarily engaged in every transaction, and therefore each 
of them requires in his Ledger two separate accounts, one 
for himself, and a second for his customer or furnisher, as 
the case may be. Now, by the use of what are called nomi- 
nal accounts representing the proprietor in his own Ledger, 
the double receptacle is provided which every transaction 
requires. The nominal accounts receive the counter entries 
of all the personal accounts, and through their operation the 
merchant is enabled to ascertain whether his businesss is 
profitable or the reverse. These accounts are those of 
Stock, Profit and Loss, and its branches. Stock is a term 
used to represent the proprietor, and it contains on the credit 
side the amount of the money, goods, or other property 
brought into trade ; and on the debtor, the owner's liabilities. 
In Profit and Loss, the credit side exhibits the gain of the 



BOOK-KEEPING. ^^^ 

business, and the debit the loss. In Single Entry, nominal 
accounts have no place. There is a record only of the side 
of the accounts belonging to the person dealing with the 
concern, and none whatever of that which represents the 
owner. Such a method enables us to balance the accounts 
of each party, but exhibits no register by which the state of 
the stock in trade, and the balances of capital and cash, can 
be at once ascertained without a separated and independent 
investigation. 

We have seen, that by Single Entry the items are trans- 
ferred from the Cash Book, Day Book, and Bill Books, at 
once, into the Ledger ; but in Double Entry, another book, 
called the Journal, is necessarily used, in which the items 
from all the others are first arranged in proper form, and 
then passed into the Ledger. Thus, posting by Single 
Entry is done from several books ; whereas by Double 
Entry from the Journal alone. 

The old Italian method of keeping a Journal is fraught 
with so many crudities, useless repetitions, and technical 
jargon, that it has been long abandoned for one a thousand 
fold more simple in its construction, and perfect in its results. 
Instead of continually entering "Sundries Dr. to Cash," 
"Interest Dr. to Sundries," "Commission Dr. to A. B. C," 
and " D. E. F. Dr. to Commission," with a multitude of such 
anomalies, the Journal is divided into two parts (the right 
and left hand side of the book), the one called the Debtor 
side and the other the Creditor side. Under the Debtor 
side must be entered uninterruptedly everything that is to be 
debited ; and under the Creditor side, everything that is to 
be credited ; and both sides must agree, if the entering has 
been done correctly. 

In addition to the simplicity of this arrangement, there 
are other advantages which may not be overlooked. In the 
first place, all the entries on one side of the Journal are 
posted upon the same side in the Ledger, a convenience 
which every bookkeeper will know how to prize. Next, all 



^^% THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the items for each account in a month are consohdated in one 
entry previous to posting, thus greatly reducing that labor, 
and offering the phenomenon of a Ledger wherein no account 
for one year can have more than twelve lines, one for each 
month ; and, finally, the totals of each month in the Journal 
added together must correspond with the gross amount of 
all the totals in the Ledger, the last and surest demonstrtion 
of correctness which figures can offer. 

Let us proceed to Jotcrnalize according to this method 
all the entries contained to the preceding Day Book, Cash 
Book, Bills Payable Book and Bills Receivable Book, 
(for which see pages 213, 214) begging the learner mean- 
while, to recollect the following rules : — 
I St. When Goods are sold, the buyers must be debited and 

Trade Account credited with the amount. 
2d. When goods are bougJit Trade Account must be debited 

and the sellers credited for the amount. 
3d. When Cash is paid, the parties receiving it must be 
debited and Cash Account credited, and when it is 
received the Account must be debited and the payers 
credited. 
4th. When Acceptances are given, the persons on whose 
account they are drawn must be debited, and Bills Paya- 
ble credited ; and when they are receivcd'^WA^?, Receiv- 
able must be debited and the party on whose account 
they are received must be credited. 
5th. When Accepted Bills become due and are paid, Bills 
Payable must be debited and Cash credited ; and when 
Bills to be received become due and are paid, Cash must 
be debited with the amount, and Bills Receivable 
credited. 
Finally. No entry can be made in the Ledger unless it be 
extracted from the Journal, consequently everything 
must go into the Journal first. 
These rules must be most carefully heeded in order to 
rapidly acquire the science of book-keeping. 



7 So 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Dr. 



Journal, 



Bills Payable. 



Tenter & Co. 


3. Goods sold as per invoice 


74 


00 


D. Flock, 


3. ditto 


50 


80 


Roberts Bros. 


4. ditto 


74 


12 


A. R. F. Randolph. 


4. Paid them Bill Receivable, 

No. 102 30 80 








Idem 103 74 32 


105 










W. H. Vernon. 


4. Goods, as per invoice 


82 


S-' 


J. W. Bouton. 


2. Bill Payable, No. 101 . 40 00 






Cash paid them 80 00 




00 








Dodd, Mead & Co. 


2. Bill Payable, No. 102. ... 90 00 








Cash paid them 1 20 00 


210 


00 






A. S, Barnes & Co. 


2. Bill Payable, No. 103. 60 00 








Cash paid them 1 50 00 


210 


00 


O. Appleton & Co. 


2. Bill Payable, No. 104. ... 40 00 




Cash paid them 62 00 


102 


00 






Bills Receivable. 


3!. Amount received this months as 








per Bill Receivable book 


142 


20 


Cash. 


31. Amount received this month, as 








per Cash Book 


2,076 


S4 


Trade Account. 


Goods bought this month: 

1. Of J. W, Bouton 150 20 

I. Dodd, Mead & Co. .. .241 OO 
I. A. S. Barnes & Co.. 300 C» 
I. U. Appleton & Co. . . .124 60 
4. A, D. F Randolph. .186 60 

4. W.H.Vernon 17000 

6. Cash paid charges as 








per Cash Book 10 28 


1,182 


68 






4.430 


28 











5. Cash paid No. 104 

5. Cash paid, No. I02 

Ditto 

5. Cash paid No. 103 

7. His bill returned unpaid 

8. Cash for rent 80 00 

Taxes 20 24 

Taxes 15 20 

30. Amount received this month, as 
per Cash Book 



February, 
40 00 



Dr. 
Bills Payable. 



March, 
90 
40 



I JO 



00 
00 



Bills Payable. 
E. Flock. 
Charges on Trade, 



Cash. 



April, 
00 

80 



60 
30 



IIS 

242 



44 
20 

44 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



781 



January, 1880. 



Cr. 



1880. 
Cash. 



J. W. Bouton. 


I. 
I. 
I. 

I. 

2. 
4- 
SI- 
S' 

4- 
3- 

4- 
I. 

3- 
3- 
4- 

I. 
4- 

31- 

4- 




ISO 

241 
300 
124 
186 
170 

230 

72 

5° 
74 

2,302 
420 

105 




Dodd, Mead & Co. 


ditto 




A. S. Barnes. 


ditto 




D. Appleton & Co. 


ditto 


60 


A. D. F. Randolph. 


ditto 


fin 


W. H. Vernon. 


ditto 


00 


Bills Payable. 
Tenter & Co. 


Amount of Bills accepted this 

month, as per Bill Book. . . . 

Bill Receivable No. loi . 36 20 

Cash received 36 20 


00 








B. Flock. 


Bill Receivable No. 102 30 80 
Cash received 20 00 








80 
32 


Roberts Bros. 
Trade Account. 


Bill Receivable No. 102 

Capital invested this day 2,000 
Goods sold this month: 

To Tenter & Co 74 00 

Flock 50 80 

Roberts Bros 74 32 

W. H. Vernon 82 30 

Cash received 14 80 

Ditto 6 60 






82 
42 


Cash. 


Amount paid this month as per 
Cash Book 


Bills Receivable. 


No. 102, paid A. D. F. Ran- 
dolph 30 88 

No. 103, ditto 74 32 










4.430 


28 









26. Amount paid this months as per 
Cash Book 



40 



1880. 



Cr. 



Cash. 31 


Amount paid this month, as per 
Cash Book 


'3° 


00 * 










130 


00 









1880. 
Cash. 


30. Amount paid this month, as per 
Cash Book 


206 
36 


44 
00 


Bills Receivable. 


6. Cash received. No. loi 




242 


44 









782 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Dr. 



Journal 



November, 







20 
18 

80 
120 

74 


00 




I. Goods sold him 


24 

CXJ 






W. Sinn. 




00 


V. S. Brown. 




20 










312 


44 













December, 


Trade Account. 


20. Goods bought this month: 

Of Leggat Bros 52 20 

Houghton, Mifflin & 

Co 200 00 

S. R. Wells 192 40 

Jas. R. Osgoon & Co. 1 70 80 










61S 


40 






Leggat Bros. 


30. Bill Payable, No. 105 


52 


20 


Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 


30. Idem 106 


206 


00 


S. R. Wells, 


30. Idem 107 


192 


40 


J. R. Osgood. 
Bills Receivable. 


30. Idem 108 


170 


80 


31. Amount received this month, as 








per Bill Book 


7 '4 


04 








1. 544 


84 









THE 

Wherein the contents of the 



Dr. 

1880. 

Jan. 3 To Goods 



TENTER 



74 00 



Dr. 
Jan. 3 To Goods 
April 7 To bill returned 



To Balance 



B. 

50 80 
30 80 

81 60 

30 00 



Dr. 
Jan. 4 To Goods 



ROBERTS 

74 32 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



783 



(Continued). 



Cr. 



1880, 

Trade Account. 




Goods sold this month: 

To Ramsdew & Co 20 00 

S. Green 18 24 


312 






G. Barrows 80 00 

W. .Sinn 12000 






V. S. Brown 74 10 












312 


44 








1880. 
Leggat Bros. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 


20. 
20. 
20. 
20. 
30. 

I. 

I. 
I. 
I. 


Goods bought by him 

Idem 


52 
200 
192 
170 

6.5 
20 

19 

80 

120 

74 


20 

00 


S. R. Wells. 

Jas. R. Osgood & Co. 

Bills Payable. 

Ramsden & Co. 
S. Green. 
0. Barrows. 
W. Sinn. 
V. S. Brown. 


Idem 

Idem 


40 
So 


Bills accepted this month, as per 

Bill Book 

Bill Receivable, No. 104 

Idem No. 1015 

Idem No. 106 

Idem No. 107 

Idem No. 108 


40 
00 
84 
00 
00 
20 




>.544 


84 









LEDQER. 

preceding jfournal are posted. 



& CO. 

1880. 

Jan. 31 By. Sundries 



Cr 




74 


00 




Cr 




SO 


80 


30 


80 



FLOCK. 
Jan. 31 By Sundries - 
By Balance - 



81 60 



BROS. 

By Bill Receivable 



Cr. 

74 32 



784 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Dr. 
Jan. 4 To Sundries 
To Balance 



A. D. F. 
io6 oo 
82 66 



188 60 



Dr. 
Jan. 4 To Goods 
To Balance 



W. H. 
82 30 
87 00 

189 30 



Dr. 
Jan. 2 To Sundries 
To Balance 



J. W. 
120 00 
30 20 



150 20 



Dr. 
Jan, 2 To Sundries 
To Balance 



DODD, 
210 00 
31 00 



241 00 



Dr. 
Jan. 2 To Sundries 
To Balance 



A. S. BAR 

210 00 
90 00 



300 00 



Dr. 
Jan. 2 To Sundries 
To Balance 



D, APPLE 

102 00 
22 60 



124 60 



BOOK-KEEPING. 785 





188 


60 


188 


60 


82 


60 



RANDOLPH. 
Jan. 2 By Goods 



By Balance ------ 

VERNON. ' Cr. 

Jan. 4 By Goods - - - - - - 189 30 

189 30 

By Balance ----... 87 00 

BOUTON. Cr. 

By Sundries - - - - - - - 150 20 

150 20 

By Balance - - - - - - - 30 10 

MEAD & CO. Cr. 

Jan. 4 By Sundries ------- 241 00 

210 00 

By Balance - - - . - - - 31 00 

NES & CO. Cr. 

Jan. I By Goods ------- 300 00 

300 00 

By Balance ------- 90 00 

TON & CO. Cr. 

Jan. I By Goods - - - - - - - 124 60 

124 60 
By Balance ------- 22 60 



786 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Dr. 

Jan. 31 To Sundries 
Dec. 31 Idem - 



BILLS 

142 20 
314 30 



To Balance 



456 60 



314 40 



Dr. 
Jan. 31 To Sundries 
April 30 Idem - 



CASH 
2,076 34 
36 20 



2,112 54 



To Balance - - - - - - -1,3 13 80 

Dr. trade. 

Jan. 31 To Sundries ------ 1,184 34 

April 30 Idem - - - - - - - 114 36 

Dec. 31 Idem - - - - - - - 614 34 

1,913 04 
Balance ------- 700 20 



Dr. 

Feb. 28 To Sundries 

March 31 Idem 

April 30 Idem 



Balance 



2,613 


24 




BILLS 

40 

130 

60 


00 
00 
00 


230 
614 


00 

34 


844 


34 



BOOK-KEEPING. 7S7 



RECEIVABLE. Cr. 

Jan. 31 By Sundries ------ 106 OO 

April 30 Idem -------- 36 20 



Balance 



142 


20 


314 40 


456 


60 


Cr 




422 


28 


40 


00 


130 


GO 


206 


40 


798 


68 


1. 313 


86 


2,112 


54 



ACCOUNT. 
Jan. 31 By Sundries 
Feb. 29 Idem 
March 31 Idem 
April 30 Idem 



Balance 



ACCOUNT. Cr. 

Jan. 31 By Sundries - - . - . - 2,304 40 

Nov. 30 Idem ---.-.. 308 84 



2,613 24 



By Balance ------ 700 20 

' PAYABLE. Cr 

Jan. 31 By Sundries ....... ^30 GO 

Dec. 31 Idem --.--_. 614 ^4 



844 34 
By Balance _-___. 614 34 



788 the practical home farmer. 

Dr. RAMSDEN. 

Nov. I To Goods - - - - - - - 20 oo 

Dr. S. 

Nov. I To Goods - - - - - - - 18 24 

Dr. G. 

Nov. I To Goods - - - - - - - 80 00 

Dr. W. 

Nov. I To Goods - - - - - . - 120 00 

Dr. V. S. 

Nov. I To Goods - - - - - - - 74 20 

Dr. LEGGAT. 

Dec. 30 To Bill Payable, No. 105 - - . - 52 20 

Dr. HOUGHTON. 

Dec. 30 To Bill Payable. No. 106 - - - - 200 00 

Dr. S. R. 

Dec. 30 To Bill Payable, No. 107 - - - - 192 40 

Dr. JAS. R. OSGOOD. * 

Dec. 30 To Bill Payable, No. 108 - - - - 170 80 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



78^ 



& CO. Cr. 

Dec. I By Bill Receivable - - - - - 20 CO 

GREEN. C± 

Dec. I By Bill Receivable, No. 105 - - - 18 24 

BERGER. Cr. 

Dec. I By Bill Receivable, No. 106 - - - 80 00 

SINN. Cr. 

Dec. I By Bill Receivable, No. 107 - - . 120 00 

BROWN Cr. 

Dec. I By Bill Receivable, No. 108 - - - 74 20 

BROS. Cr. 

Dec. 20 By Goods ------- 52 20 

MIFFLIN & CO. Cr. 

Dec. 20 By Goods ..--.. 200 GO 

WELLS. Cr. 

Dec. 20 By Goods- - - - - - - 192 40 

I - 

& CO. Cr. 

Dec. 20 By Goods - - - - - - 170 80 



790 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

In the preceding Ledger we have posted under the head 
of Trade Account all goods bought and charges incurred 
(both in business and family matters) to the Debit ; and to 
the Credit, the amount of my capital and goods sold, con- 
sequently the balance of this account added to the amount 
of stock on hand always shows the profit of the business. 
For instance : 

Balance of the account -------- 700 16 

Value of stock on hand, as estimated in the 

Balance Sheet by Single Entry - - - - 1,390 28 



Total balance in my favor as shown in the Bal- 
ance Sheet by Single entry ----- 2,090 44 



But in partnership accounts, such a plan would not do, 
because domestic expenses cannot be charged to trade, nor 
should the respective capitals be included. In such cases 
separate accounts must be opened for each individual, 
which must be credited with their separate capitals and 
debited with their relative charges. At the end of. the 
year, a balance is struck, the profit or loss determined, and 
the sum total divided into proper proportions, and trans- 
terred from the general Trade or Profit and Loss Account, 
each individual's debit or credit, as the case may be. 

N. B. — A Profit and Loss Accounl is merely another 
name for a Trade Account. All bad debts nnist be charged 
to that Account tvhich shows the Profit and Loss {whatever 
the name may be), and the bad Aecotints themselves closed 
by transfer. 

Let us now see if the Ledger is correct. To deter- 
mine this, first extract all the totals. Dr. Cr. (before the 
balances are struck), which must not only agree with each 
other, but correspond as well with the sums total in the 
Journal. Put all the amounts at debit on one side, and 
the amounts at credit on the other. The totals must agree 
with the totals in the Journal. If this prove to be the fact, 



BOOK-KEEPING. 79 1 

it is thus demonstrated that everything in the Journal has 
been posted in the Ledger. 

Having thus seen that the totals on both sides of the 
Ledger not only agree with each other, but correspond as 
well with those of the Journal, which '\?, proof positive that 
the books are correct, the next and last care will be to see 
that the balances are properly struck and brought down, 
which is done by extracting them, and observing that both 
sides are alike. 

If they agree, the balancing has been properly done. 

This is the final operation at the end of a year; and 
the Journal of the next should have for its first entries 
Debtor and Creditor, an exact copy of the Balance Sheet, 
registered the same as all other items, and included in the 
monthly total. 




©HE LCBTTEI^-Wl^ITEr^. 



Tkg Cgttgr Writgr. 



*T^VERY position in life demands letter-writing. A 
A^ letter is the great link between parents and chil- 
dren, between lovers, between friends ; while in business 
relations it makes fortunes, or mars them. A good letter 
must, firstly, be absolutely correct in every mechanical 
detail ; then style comes into question ; then the matter, 
which must be intelligible to the meanest as well as the 
highest understanding. The great art of letter-writing is 
to be able to write gracefully and with ease, and no letter 
should wear the appearance of having been laboriously 
studied. 

The first point to be observed in your letter is that you 
write in a clear, legible hand, a hand that anybody and 
everybody can read. You may fill your pages with the 
most exquisite and sparkling ideas, but if they carfnot be 
read except to the torture of the peruser, your diamond 
thoughts lose all their glitter, and pexjple to whom you 
write, instead of being anxious to receive a letter from you, 
will mentally groan at the very idea of its receipt, knowing 
the toil and trouble that awaits them in its perusal. 

Be patient, then, and plod on steadily until you write a 
bold, clear, clean hand, and never let a scrap of your writ- 
ing pass from you that is not carefully executed. 

Never erase. It is much better, though wearying the 
task, to commence all over again. An erasure is a sore to 
the eye. 

Orthography is next to be considered. Bad spelling is 
disgraceful, and many people spell badly from simple care- 
lessness. Read carefully the works of the best authors. 
Write extracts from these works, and you will intuitively 
spell correctly. Your sense will become offended at a 



796 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

misspelt word. Use the simplest language. Always have 
a dictionary (pocket) beside you, but never consult it 
unless you are in doubt. Once consulted, you should, 
remember the word ever afterward. Never divide your 
words into syllables at the end of the line unless you cannot 
help it. If you have space for the first syllable, let your 
hypen be bold. Thus: 

It is sometimes a great con- 
solation to me that, etc., etc. 

A word of one syllable must not be divided. Bring it 
bodily over to the next line. 

Compound words must be divided into the simple words' 
composing them. Thus : War-whoop, not warw-hoop ; 
bread-stuff, not breadst-uff. 



Punctuation. 



In order to have the meaning of words readily under- 
stood, it becomes necessary to divide those words into 
paragraphs, sentences and clauses, by means of punctua- 
tion. As an instance of the absence of punctuation and 
the farcical result, just read this : 

Lost on Broadway on Thursday evening last an umbrella 
bv an elderly gentleman with a carved ivory head. 

Take the following rules and mark them well : 

Put a comma wherever you would make a trifling 
pause, were you speaking ; as, " He came, he saw, he 
conquered." 

A semicolon makes a longer pause, and an incomplete 
sentence; as, "Julia is handsome; Agnes is beautiful." 
The semicolon separates the sentence more distinctly than 
the comma. 

The colon marks a sentence which is complete in itself, 
but is followed by some additional remark ; as, " Shun 
vice: it will lead to ruin." The colon is also used to per- 



BOOK-KEEPING. 797 

cede a quotation, and point it off from the rest of the 
sentence ; as, Shakespeare says : "Assume a virtue, if you 
have it not." 

A period is used to denote that a sentence is complete • 
as, " A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." 

The dash is used to denote a sudden pause, or abrupt 
change of sense ; as, "I have loved her madly, wildly — 
but why speak of her? " 

The interrogation point is used only after a question ; 
as, " Why did you say so? " 

The interjection point is used only to denote an excla- 
mation ; as, " Alas ! all my joys have flown ! " 

The parenthesis is used to enclose a portion of a sent- 
ence which if left out would not destroy the sense ; as, " I 
value this flower (a faded flower) very highly." 

The apostrophe is used to mark the possessive case, and 
also the omission of a letter or letters in a word ; as, 
" Frederick's hair is black," or, " Gen'l Grant is getting 
old." 

The caret is used to mark an omitted word, which word 
must be written immediately above it ; as, 

wet 
"What a day!" 

The hyphen is used to connect compound words, and at 
the end of a line shows that more syllable^ are carried over 
to the next line. 

Quotation marks are used before and after every quota- 
tion, to separate and define it ; as, " Many are called, but 
few are chosen." 

Capital Letters. 



The capital letters only set apart the sentences and 
paragraphs, but while their proper use adds greatly to the 
beauty of an epistle, their omission or improper use will 
make the pages present a perfectly absurd appearance. 



798 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Begin every paragraph with a capital letter. 

Begin every sentence following a period with a capital 
letter. 

Begin all proper names with a capital letter. 

Begin all titles, as President, Vice-President, General, 
Doctor or Captain, with a capital letter. 

Begin all names of place, as Chicago, Long Branch, 
Niagara, with a capital letter. 

Begin the words, North, South, East, West, and their 
compounds and abbreviations, as North-east, S. W., with a 
capital letter. 

Begin the names 'of the Deity and Heaven, or the pro- 
noun used for the former, as, in His mercy — Thou, Father, 
with a capital letter. 

Begin all adjectives formed from the names of places or 
points of the compass, as English, Northern, with a capital 
letter. 

Begin every line of poetry with a capital letter. 

Begin all quotations with a capital letter. 

Begin all titles of books, and usually each important 
word of the title, as, Bancroft's History of the United 
States with a capital letter. 

Begin the name of any historical event, as the Cival War, 
with a capital letj:er. 

The pronoun I and the interjection O must invariably 
be written with a capital letter. 

Begin all the names of the months, as June, April, with 
a capital letter. 

Begin all addresses, as, Dear Sir — Dear Madam, with 
a capital letter. 

Capital letters must never be placed in the middle of a 
word ; never, except in accordance with the foregoing 
rules, in the middle of a sentence. 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



799 



style. 



You cannot blindly follow any rules as regards style, as 
your style will ever be your own. Quote as little as pos- 
sible, and be niggardly with your adjectives. Avoid long 
sentences, and florid language. Parenthesis should be care- 
fully punctuated; as, "John, (who is, as you are aware, a 
confirmed toper) is considerably better." 
Begin a letter this way : 

Richmond, Va,, 

June 1st, 1882. 
or 

New York, Sept. 7th, 1882. 
Avoid postscripts. They are only embarrassing. Take 
your envelope, and having neatly folded your letter, place 
it in the envelope, close the envelope and write in the most 
legible manner: 







Put 
Stamp 
here. 


Mr. 


George Bowen, 




327 State Street, 




Chicago, 




111. 



Be very careful not to repeat the same word. Tautol- 
ogy is a crime in writing. Read this and see how you 
like it : 

" Willie has ^(^w^". Johnny will conic to-morrow. Will 



800 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

you come and spend a day with us ? Make Susie come. 
Summer has come at last." 

This is tautology. Do not underline unless in very 
extreme cases. 

" You know, darling, how intensely I love you," is per- 
haps excusable. 

Never abbreviate except in business. Dates should be 
given in figures, and money, in parentheses, thus ($10,000). 
Date carefully. 

Abbreviate the names of the States in the following 
fashion : 

Maine, Me.; New Hampshire, N. H.; Vermont, Vt.; 
Massachusetts, Mass.; Rhode Island, R. I.; Connecticut, 
Conn.; New York, N. Y. ; New Jersey, N. J.; Pennsyl- 
vania, Penn. or Pa.; Delaware, Del.; Maryland, Md. ; Vir- 
ginia, Va. ; North Carolina, N. C; South Carolina, S. C; 
Georgia, Ga. or Geo.; Alabama, Ala.; Mississippi, Miss.; 
Missouri, Mo.; Louisiana, La., Tennessee, Tenn.; Ken- 
tucky, Ky. ; Indiana, Ind.; Ohio, O.; Michigan, Mich.; 
Illinois, 111.; Wisconsin, Wis.; Arkansas, Ark.; Texas, 
Tex.; Iowa, la.; Florida, Fla. ; Oregon, On.; California, 
Cal.; Minnesota, Minn.; District of Columbia, D. C. 



Replies. 



There is no greater mark of good-breeding and polite- 
ness, than the prompt reply to a letter. Never lose a 
moment, if possible, in replying to one. If the reply 
requires delay, write to acknowledge receipt of the letter. 
Never reply by proxy if you are able to write yourself. 

Never write on a half sheet of paper. 

Avoid pedantry. 

Never write a congratulatory letter upon mourning- 
paper, even if you are in mourning. 

Never try to patch and ill-formed letter. 



■rHE LETTER-WRITER. 8oi 

If you add your own address to a letter, put it under 
your signature, thus : 

Very respectfully, 

Robert R. White, 

154 R St., 

New Orleans, La. 
Never write an anonymous letter. Treat it with silent 
contempt. 

Never gossip. Friendly intelligence, if you are certain 
it is true, may be communicated. 

Date every letter clearly and carefully. It is often of 
the utmost importa^ice to know when a letter was written. 

Sit erect when writing, as, if you write constantly, a 
stoop will surely injure your figure and your health. 







Henry 


Blackford, 
70 West 


Esq 
50th 


Street, 
New Y 


ork. 


Introducing 














Charles 


K 


endrick, 


of Louisville, 


Ky. 





We give examples of the forms of letters in general use. 
These will act as guides to the inexperienced. 

Letters of Introduction. 



Never seal a letter of introduction. Mention the busi- 
ness in which the party whom you are introducing is, or 



802 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

was engaged. Write the name of the party introduced in 
the left-hand corner of the envelope containing the intro- 
duction. Thus : you wish to introduce Mr. Charles Ken- 
drick, of Louisville, Ky., to Mr. Henry Blatchford, of New 
York. Direct your letter as above. 

If you want to be stylish, send your letter of introduc- 
tion, with your card, by the servant at the private residence 
of the person to whom you are introduced. Send a letter 
with your card, if you present it at a merchant's office. 



Introducing One Lady to Another. 

Chicago, June i, 1882. 
Dear Emily : 

This letter will introduce my dear friend, Mrs. Thomas 
Frost, of whom you have heard me speak so much. I feel 
assured that this introduction will prove of considerable 
pleasure to both of you. 

Any attention you show her during her stay in Gotham 
will be appreciated by 

Your affectionate friend, 

Julia M. Haws. 
Mrs. Joseph M. Minturn. 



Introducing a Young Lady Seeking Employment. 



PouGHKEEPSiE, June i, 1882. 
Dear -Mr. Jones : — 

The young lady whom this letter .will make known to 
you is desirous of obtaining employment in your city, and 
I use our old acquaintanceship as the bridge to your good 
offices in her behalf. She has received a very liberal edu- 
cation and would prove of immense value to a family whose 
young children need careful and judicious teaching. She is 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 803 

gentle, amiable and willing. I trust you may be able to 
serve her. 

I am, etc., 

Dear Mr. Jones, 

Your sincere friend, 

R. A. Appleton. 
Mk. W. F. Jones. 

Introducing a Gentleman Seeking a Position in a Counting- 

House. 



Albany, June i, 1882. 
My Dear Sir : 

Recognizing your well-merited and extensive influence 
in the commercial circles in your city, I beg to introduce to 
you W. James Farms, who is desirous of obtaining a clerk- 
ship in a counting-house. He is a gentleman of capacity 
and ability. His character stands A i, and he is as indus- 
trious as he is energetic. He considers New York a better 
field than this place, and prefers to try his chances there to 
remaining here. He can refer to me. Trusting that you 
will lend him a helping hand, I am, 

Yours, very truly. 

Jacob Hill. 
Joseph Lynch, Esq. 

Introducing a Sister to a Schoolmate. 



Wilkesbarre, June 8, 1882. 
Dear Rosie : 

This letter will introduce my sister Polly. I do not 
think that I need say another word. I love you both. 
You will love both of us. I will write a long letter very 
soon. Yours, as ever, 

Mary. 
Miss Rosie Irwin. 



804 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Introducing a Young Married Lady to a Friend in Her New 

Home. 



Stanford, Conn., June i, 1882. 
My Dear Mamie : 

Mrs. Holcroft will present this note, and when I tell you 
that she is a bride, and is about to settle in your town, I 
feel that I have secured her a pleasant friendship, and that 
she will find in you an old nciv friend in the midst of 
strang'ers. I know that you will pay her all the attention 
that lies in your power for the sake of auld lang syne. 

Your loving friend, 

Blossie. 
Mrs. W. T. Marsden. 



Introducing a Daughter About to Make a Visit. 



Cleveland, O., June i, 1882. 
My Dear Mrs. Becker : 

My daughter Ellen will present this in person, as her in- 
troduction to her mother's old friend, whose kind invitation 
to spend a few weeks she accepts, conamorc. That she will 
have a delightful time is amongst the few certainties of this 
very uncertain life. You may find her a little shy and re- 
served, but under your care she will soon feel herself as 
much at home as in Euclid Avenue, Cleveland. With 
warmest regards to your husband, and lots of love to your- 
self, I am, 

Your sincere friend, 

Catherine E. Lawson. 
Mrs. Joseph Becker. 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 805 

Introducing a Gentleman to a Lady Friend. 



Warrentort, Me., June t, 1882. 
My Dear Miss Tentine : 

My friend Mr. Robert George Balfin by whom this let- 
ter will be presented, is about to settle in Dayton. As 
your hospitality is proverbial, may I hope for a little slice 
of it for him? And I look forward to good reports from 
both of you as to the ripening of a friendship the seed of 
which is now sown by 

Your very sincere friend, 

John G. Shear. 

Letters on Business. 

Letters on business should be brief, to the point, and 
clearly and cleanly written. No flourishes either in diction 
or penmanship. There is no time for such ornamentation 
in business. 

Ordering a Supply of Goods for a Store in the Country. 



Spike, Thompson County, Ky., June i, 1882. 
Messrs. Park & Tilford, New York : 

Gentlemen — I have just opened a large gcocery store 
in this place, and the prospects of success seems assured. 
1 should be happy to deal with your firm. I can refer you 
to Robinson & Charles, of 270 Broadway, New York. 
This being our first transaction, I shall be prepared to pay 
the express co. upon delivery of goods, if you will forward 
me your ac. with the usual cash discount by a previous 
mail. 

Enclosed please find order, which I should wish filled 
as promptly as is consistent with your convenience. 

Very respectfully, 

R. M. Macarthy. 



8o6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Reply. 



Broadway, New York, June, 3, 1882. 
Mr. R. M. Macarthy: 

Dear Sir — Your favor of the ist to hand. We shall 
be pleased to open an account with you, Messrs. Robinson 
& Charles having spoken very highly of you. 

We have this day forwarded to your address the goods 
according to your invoice, but being desirous of obtaining 
your approval of their quality and value, will aw'ait j'our 
examination for the enclosed bill, which is subject to 5 per 
cent, discount for prornpt cash. A post-office order or draft 
on one of our city banks will suit our convenience equally 
well as collection by Dodd's Express. 

Hoping to receive further orders, we are, 
Yours respectfully. 

Park & Tilford. 



Letter Offering the Ms. of a Book to a Publisher. 



Wilmington, N. C, April, 2, 1882. 
Messrs. Provost & Co., 

Publishers, Tremont St., Boston, Mass.: 
Gentlei^ien — I have just written a society novel of the 
present day, and wish to have it put upon the market as 
soon as practicable. Please inform me if you are willing to 
publish it, and at what terms. 

This is my first novel, but under the name of " Daisy 
Dean" I have contributed quite a number of short stories 
to Frank Leslie's and other popular publications. I may 
mention that my style is what is termed " breezy ; " that is, 
bright and crisp. 

Awaiting an early reply, I am, gentlemen. 

Very truly yours, 

Mrs. J. F. Murray. 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 807 



Reply. 

292 Treton St., Boston, Mass., April 4, 1882. 
Mrs. J. F. Murray : 

Dear Madam — Having made all our arrangements for 
publications for the year, we are compelled to decline the 
offer of your MS., and trust that you may be successful 
elsewhere. 

We are, dear madam, 

Your obedient servants, 

Provost & Co., 

Per W. F. 

Letter Proposing to Sell Goods on Commission. 



Drakeville, Young Co., Md., January 28, 1882. 
Messrs. Short & Stelt : 

Gentlemen — I have been in business in this town for 
over twelve years, and refer to the National Bank, and to 
Mr. James E. Townsend, ex-Mayor and a prominent citi- 
zen. I see a good opening for increasing my sales, and am 
desirous of a supply of your goods to sell on commission. 
If required I will give you full security against any loss. 

Should this proposition meet your views, please fill the 
accompanying order, and give me the benefit of your most 
favorable terms. 

Respectfully, 

John Riley. 

Reply. 

Baltimore, Feb. 2, '82. 
Mr. John Riley — 

Dear Sir — We have to-day forwarded by Dodd's 
Express the goods ordered per your letter of the 28th ult.; 



8o8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the inquiries about you as suggested by you, having proved 
most satisfactory. The commission is lo per cent. The 
bill of sale accompanies each package. 

Trusting that opening will lead to a long connection of 
mutual benefit, 

We arc yours respectfully, 

Short & Stelt. 



Requesting the Settlement of an Account. 



Milwaukee, Wis., July 30, 1882. 
Mr. T. W. Ingram: 

Dear Sir — As we have a large payment to make at 
the end of next week, and as your account remains unsettled, 
we must beg of you to send us a check for same by 
Tuesday next. We are reluctant to press you, but we are 
pressed ourselves. 

Very respectfully, 

Smith & Brown. 



Requesting Payment of Rent. 



E. 29TH St., New York, March 27, 1882. 
Mr. Patrick K. Chiselhurst: 

Dear Sir — I must call your attention to the fact that, 
although your agreement for the house rented by you from 
me stipulates monthly payments in advance, you have 
failed to pay for three months, and are now in arrears 
$206. 

If you fail to pay the account within six days, I shall be 
reluctantly compelled to place the matter in the hands of 
my lawyer for collection. 

Very respectfully, 

Thomas Vosburg. 



THE '.ETTER-WRITER. 809 



Trom a Lady in the Country Ordering Goods. 



Maida Vale, Tewkesbury Co., Mass., Jan. i8, 1882. 
Messrs. Calice & Twist, 

Washington Street, Boston : 
Gentlemen — Please send me by Dodd's Express the 
following goods : 
12 yards of green gauze. 
24 yards gingham. 
2 pair of six-botton gloves, lavender color, size 6}^, Dent's 

make. 
6 pocket handerchiefs, plain white, with broad hem-stitched 
border. 
Also send pattern of black satin of a good quality, price 
marked. 

The goods must be sent to Warrington by rail, and to 
Mr. William Snipe, 240 State Street, who will pay 
C. O. D. 

Direct as follows : 

Mrs. Wilson Toft, 

Warrington Station, 
Tewkesbury Co., Mass. 

From a Farmer in Ireland, Proposing to Emigrate. 



Ballinkill, Co. Mayo, August i, 1882. 

To Mr. John Murphy, Tippins Cove, Burke County, Mon- 
tana. 
Sir — Pat Lynch, of Coolamore, tells me that you could 

give me all the information I want about that part of the 

county you are now in. 

I have been farming about 60 acres for the last fifteen 

years, and have saved up £500. 

I want to know what sort of a county you are in; 

climate, soil, water, and all that, and what I could get for 



8lO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

my £500 ; also, if any inducements are held out to men of 
my class. I have a wife and seven children — 4 boys and 3 
girls. The boys, thanks be to God, are all able to take a 
hand at farm work. 

Pat Lynch will answer for me. 

Yours obediently, 

MURTV JovcE. 

Reply. 



TippiNS Cove, Burke Co., Montana. 
To Mr. Murphy Joyce : 

My Dear Friend — If Pat Lynch, my old friend, advised 
you to emigrate here he did well. I have been here now 
for five years, and no inducement would tempt me to leave 
It. For half of your £500 you can buy as many acres as 
you wish to farm, and our little settlement is growing so 
rapidly that in a short time your land will be worth double 
what you pay for it. Come to me straight, and stop with 
me, all of you, till your log hut is built. 

The climate here is healthy and invigorating ; the soil 

fine, and a little river of good water is close by, while the 

woods give us all the fuel we require. You can come to 

within fifty miles of me by rail, but Ml have horses and 

wagons at the station to take you and your family here. 

Let me hear full details of your starting, and give my 

warmest regards to Pat Lynch. I wish he was coming, too, 

with all my heart. 

Yours faithfully, 

John Murphy. 

To the Father of a Young Lady, Asking her Hand in 

Marriage. 

Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, March 12, 1882. 

Sir — I venture to hope that you will call all your 

friendly feelings to my assistance, in considering a proposal 



THE LETTER- WRITER. 8ll 

I am about to lay before you, in which my happiness is 
completely concerned. 

For a long time past your daughter, Effie, has held a 
strong hold over my affections, and I have reason to be- 
lieve that I am not indifferent to her. My position is such 
as to warrant my belief that I could support her in the style 
of comfort which she so well deserves, and which it has 
been your constant aim to provide for your children. As 
regards my character and disposition, I trust they are suf- 
ficiently well known to you to give you confidence in the 
prospect of your child's happiness. 

I have not, however, ventured on any express declara- 
tion of my feelings, without first consulting you on the sub- 
ject, as I feel persuaded that the straightforward course is 
always the best, and that a parent's sanction will never be 
wanting when the circumstances of the case justify its being 
accorded. 

Anxiously awaiting the result of your consideration on 
this important and interesting subject, I remain, sir. 
Your most faithful and obedient servant, 

Edward L. Spring. 

To W. Parsons, Esq. 



Favorable. 



Meadow Bank, March 13, 1882. 
My Dear Edward Spring: 

I thank you very much for the manly and honorable 
way in which you have addressed me in reference to my 
daughter's hand. I have long since perceived that your 
attentions to her were of a marked character, and that they 
appeared to give her much pleasure. I know no reason 
whatever to oppose your wishes, and, if I may judge from 
the manner in which she received the communication from 
myseli, you will find a by no means unwilling listner. 



8l2 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Dine with us to-morrow at six o'clock, if you are not 
engaged, and you will then have an opportunity of plead- 
ing your own cause. Meanwhile, believe me, with every 
confidence in your integrity and good feeling, 
Yours most sincerely, 

William Parsons. 
To E. L. Spring, Esq. 

Unfavorable. 



Meadow Bank, March 13, 1882. 
Dear Sir: 

It is always painful to return an unfavorable answer, 
but such is unfortunately my task on the present occasion. 
My daughter has for a long time been engaged to a 
gentleman whose character and position give her no cause 
to regret the engagement. At the same time she duly 
appreciates the compliment implied by your preference, 
and unites with me in the sincere wish that, as an esteemed 
friend, you may meet with a companion in every way calcu- 
lated to ensure your happiness. 

Believe me, dear sir, 

Your sincere friend, 

William Parsons. 
To E. L. Spring, Esq. 



A Gentleman After Meeting a Lady at a Party, Asking 
Permission to Pay His Addresses. 



18 W. 36TH St., N. Y., July 27, 1882. 
Dear Miss Winslow : 

I must crave your pardon for the somewhat bold 
address I am about to make, trusting that its apparent pre- 
sumption may be excused by the consideration that my 
feelings are deeply enlisted in its success. The marked 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 813 

attentions paid you at Mrs. Burke's party could not, I flat- 
ter myself, have failed to attract your notice, nor have been 
wholly disagreeable to yourself. Cherishing this pleasing 
belief, I am encouraged to crave the privilege of being per- 
mitted to improve my acquaintance with a lady for whom 
I entertain so high an esteem. 

The company in which we met will, I trust, be consid- 
ered a sufficient guarantee of my character and position to 
warrant me in looking forward to an early renewal of the 
happy hours spent in your company. Your kind permis- 
sion once granted, I shall lose no time in seeking, for my 
addresses, the sanction of your parents ; but I do not feel 
at liberty to take such a step until well assured that it will 
be agreeable to your wishes. 

May I entreat the fa/or of an early reply.'* which, dear 
Miss Winslow, will be anxiously awaited by 
Your devoted admirer, 

William Thropcake. 



To 'a Widow From a Widower. 



120TH St., New York, Nov. 19, 1882. 

My Dear Madam — I am emboldened to lay open to 
you the present state of my feelings, being so convinced of 
your good sense and amiable disposition, that I feel assured 
you will deal candidly with me in your reply. 

Like yourself, I have been deprived of the partner of 
my earlier life, and, as I approach the middle state of exist- 
ence, I feel more and more the want of some kindred spirit 
to share with me whatever years are reserved to me by 
Providence. My fortune is such as to enable me to sup- 
port a lady in the manner which I feel to be due to your 
accomplishments and position, and I sincerely hope that 
you will think carefully over my proposal ; and if you can 
make up your mind to share my fortune and affections, I 



8l4 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

trust that no efforts will be wanting on my part to ensure 
you the happiness you so well deserve. 

I need scarcely say that an early answer, on a matter 
so much connected with my future happiness, will be a 
great favor to, 

My dear madam, 
Your devoted friend and admirer, 

Arthur Borstop. 
To Mrs. Wadlow. 



A Gentleman Asking His Betrothed to Name the Day. 



2 Allen's Ford, St. Louis, July 8, 1882. 
My Own Darling Wife that is to be : — 

Let me implore of you to name the day that will make 
us one — that day which is to bring us together for all time. 
You blushed last night when I urged the question, and put 
me off with some pretty, but pitiful excuse. For once, 
darling, let me dictate and say Wednesday. Won't you, 
my precious pet ? 

Yours, 

Ted. 

A Young Man in Colorado to His Betrothed in New York. 



Leadville, Dec. 13, 1882. 
Dearest Elizabeth — You have doubtless received 
letters from me lately, describing my situation here, and 
stating the projects that I had under consideration. In one of 
those letters, allusion is made to a speculation in land in 
the neighborhood of this place, with the remark that, if it 
were successful, I should be able to make good mypromise, 
and claim you as the partner of my joys and sorrows for 
life. My most sanguine expectations have been more than 
realized. 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 815 

Herewith you will receive a draft on the National Park 
bank in New York, for $500, of which I pray you to make use 
in providing such articles as may be necessary to replenish 
your wardrobe, in anticipation of our speedy marriage, 
after my return home. Pray present your dear mother 
with my affectionate regards, and say that I can never 
forget, now that I have the power, that it is my duty to 
assist and cherish her declining years. I also send some 
few trinkets, made of Leadville gold, which you will please 
present on my behalf to your sisters, as tokens of my 
brotherly regard ; for such I now consider my relations 
towards them. 

With my kindest regards to all, and trusting that I may 
soon be permitted to embrace my dearest, I remain 

Her devoted, 

Mark Tapley. 

Complaints of a Lady's Coolness. 



Cedar St., Philadelphia, March i. 
Dear Susan — The change in your behavior toward me 
— from the kindness of an attached friend to the cool 
indifference of a distant acquaintance — indicates but too 
plainly that, by some means, I have had the misfortune to 
excite your displeasure ; though how or when I cannot 
imagine. Recently, I have several times attempted to seek 
an explanation, but, in every instance, my courage failed 
me at the critical moment, and, as a last resort, intrusting 
to my pen the duty which my lips should have performed, 
I now write to you, to ask wherein I have offended. What- 
ever may be your reply, rest assured that my feelings 
toward yourself cannot be changed, and that your beloved 
image will ever be enshrined in the breast of 

Your affectionate friend, 

E. L. DwvER. 



8l6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Explaining an Apparent Slight. 



Boston, March 8, 1882. 
Dearest Julia — How could you consider me capable 
of inflicting a slight upon yourself, in whom are centered 
all my hopes of happiness? Nothing more than ordinary 
courtesy was intended by my attentions to Miss Frith. 
That she was a comparative stranger to the Stanleys, 
induced me to pay her those attentions which have occa- 
sioned you so much annoyance, but which otherwise I 
would not have considered myself justified in tendering. 

I regret from my soul that anything should have occurred 
to originate in your mind a doubt of my sincerity. 

Your truly affectionate, . 

George Rogers. 
To Miss Julia Tilghman, 

No. N. Fifteenth St., Philadelphia. 

On Receiving a Favorable Reply to a Proposal. 



Newton, N. Y., March 20, 1882. 

Darling Words cannot express my rapture on 

finding your note on my table last night. How delightful 

was it to find a letter — a.T\dsnch a letter! — from one whom 

I may now hope to hail as the companion of my whole 

future life! The weight taken off my mind by the candid 

and gentle confession of one whose love seemed too great 

a happiness to hope for, is beyond description. To-morrow 

I shall hasten to the presence of her from whom I hope I 

may never henceforth be parted ; but I could not retire to 

rest without making one feeble attempt to express my 

ecstasy at finding that hopes so flattering have not been in 

vain. 

Believe me, darling, 

Your devoted and happy 

Tom. 



THE LETTER-WRIT£R. 8l7 



Complaining of Not Receiving a Letter. 



Clifton, January 7, 1882. 

Dear Agnes — Four days have passed without my re- 
ceiving a letter from you, and I am in painful anxiety lest 
illness should be the cause. Pray write quickly, or I shall 
really feel inclined to quarrel with you as an idle girl ; nay, 
I shall absolutely grow jealous, and fancy that some more 
favored suitor is undermining the affections of my dear 
girl. 

But I have no fears. I too well know that your inate 

goodness of heart would prevent your trifling with the 

feelings of any one; so, hoping that you will take this little 

scolding in good part., and relieve the offense by a very 

long letter as speedily as your dainty fingers can write, 

believe me. 

Dear Agnes, 

Your affectionate 

Ed. 

On a Birthday. 

New London, June i, 18S2. 

My Dearest Fannie — How sad it is that I am hin- 
dered from being with you on this dearest of all days of 
the year. 

Accept, dearest, the enclosed portrait. I feel that its 
original is too deeply stamped on your heart to require any 
effigy to remind you of him. It is, howerer, the most ap- 
propriate present I could offer to the cause of my happiness 
on this brightest of all days. 

God grant that every succeeding year may see you in- 
crease in all that is charming in body and mind, and believe 

me. 

My dearest Fannie, 

Your own 

John. 



8l8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



A Complaint. 

July lo, 1882. 
Dear Maudie: 

It is with pain I write to you in aught that can 
seem like a strain of reproach, but I confess that your con- 
duct last night both surprised and vexed me. You received 
Mr. Watson's attensions in so marked a way that I feel it 
due to myself to comment on your conduct. Believe me, 
I am in no way given to idle jealousy ; still less am I selfish 
or unmanly enough to wish to deprive any girl on whom 
I have so firmly fixed my affections of any pleasure to be 
obtained in good society. But my peace of mind would be 
lost forever, did I believe that I had lost one atom of your 
affection. 

Pray write, and assure me that you still preserve your 
undivided affection for 

Your devoted, but grieved 

Fred. 

Congratulating a Friend on his Marriage. 



Omaha, August 20, 1882. 
My Dear Tom : 

As you have entered the enviable state of wedlock, and 
are no longer the merry bachelor formerly the butt of my 
crude jests, I must address you in a tone of greater gravity 
than has been my custom. My dear friend, I sincerely con- 
gratulate you upon this desirable change ; for in your 
choice of a partner you have given evidence of the posses- 
sion of a sound judgment and much good taste. If my 
beneficent wishes were the only requisite to insure your 
happiness in the married state, you would never have occa- 
sion to regret the step you have recently taken ; for there 
is no one whom I more ardently desire to see surrounded 
with all the blessings of this life. 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 819 

Have the kindness to present my respectful compliments 
to Mrs. Armitage, and believe me ever to remain 
Your sincere well-wisher and friend, 

Edward Keogh. 

Congratulating a Gentleman upon his Marriage. 

Yankton, June i, 1882. 
Dear Bill: 

I have just received the welcome message that informs 
me of your new happiness. I hasten to offer you my most 
sincere congratulations and hearty good wishes. May 
every year of your married life find you happier than the 
last, and may Mrs. Chiffins find you as loyal a husband as 
you have been a friend. 

From my inmost heart, dear Billy, I say, God bless you 
and your bride with His choicest blessings. 

Ever your friend, 

George Meyers. 
William Chiffins, Esq. 

Congratulating a Lady upon her Marriage. 



K St., Washington, D. D., August 3, 1882. 
Dear Josie : 

Your cards have just reached me, and I write at once 
to try to express my heartfelt pleasure at your happy pros- 
pects. It is a great pleasure to your loving friends to be 
able to feel so much esteem and affection for the gentleman 
to whom you have confided your life's happiness, and to 
hope, as I do, that every year will unite your hearts more 
closely. 

That heaven may bless you both, dear Josie, is the 
earnest prayer of 

Your loving 

Julia Robinson. 
Mrs. Clifford Dovle. 



820 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Congratulating a Friend on the Birth of a Son. 



Batavia, N. Y., July 5, 1882. 
My Dear Joe : 

What luck! A son born on the great 4th. May he 
prove as good, as pure, and as honest a man and patriot as 
George Washington. What more can I say, old fellow, 
except to add that I earnestly trust that Mrs. Clithroe and 
George W. are doing well? 

Yours, always sincerely, 

A. U. Hervy 
Joseph Clithroe, Esq. 

Congratulating a Friend on the Birth of a Daughter. 



Pegasus, Westchester Co., N. Y., April 10, 1882. 
Dear Millie: 

I congratulate you most heartily on your new acquaint- 
ance, and if " missy " only grows up like " mamma," the 
boys will be around pretty lively. I suppose your husband 
is two feet taller. Take great care of yourself and the wee 
little lady. I hope very soon to come round to congratu- 
late you in person. 

Your very sincere friend, 

James Todhunter. 
Mrs. E. F. Everligh. 

Seeking a Clerkship. 



Troy, May 4, 1882. 
Gentlemen — Perceiving by your advertisement in the 
N. Y. Herald that you are in want of a clerk, I beg to 
inclose testimonials, and venture to hope that from my 
previous experience in the line of business you pursue I 
should be of some use in your establishment. My habits 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 821 

of life are such as to'assure regularity in the discharge of 
my duties, and I can only assure you that, should you 
honor me with your confidence, I shall spare no pains to 
acquit myself to your satisfaction. 

I remain, gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, 

'Harry Sanderson. 
To Messrs. Griffiths & Co. 

Application for Subscription to a Charity. 



MiDGEViLLE, Tenn., October 8, 1882. 
Sir [or Madame] : — I take the liberty of inclosing a 
prospectus of an institution which is likely to have a most 
beneficial effect upon the poor in our neighborhood. 
\^Hcre state particularsi\ From your well-known liberality, 
I trust you will excuse this appeal from a stranger in fur- 
therance of an act of benevolence, and remain, 

Sir [or Madame], 

Your most obedient servant, 

Julia [or John] Smith. 

Declining. 



30 West 27TI1 St., New York, Oct. 29, 1882. 
Mr. Thomas Jones regrets exceedingly that the numer- 
ous applications for kindred purposes near home render it 
impossible for him to comply with the request contained in 
Mr. [or Mrs.] 's letter of the i8th October. 

A Friend in the Country Asking a City Friend About Soard. 

Erie, Pa., August 14, '82. 
Dear William — In a few days I will have occasion to 
visit New York, and, being a comparative stranger, I wish 



822 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

to be as near the business center as possible, though located 
in a private boarding-house, as I have a strong aversion to 
hotel life. My object in writing is to ask you to recommend 
to me some private boarding-house, and to engage rooms 
in advance of my arrival, so that I may proceed thither at 
once on landingf from the cars. Leavinsr the selection 
entirely to yourself, and hoping to hear from you soon, I 
remain, 

Yours faithfully, 

Isaac Jenkins. 



Application for a Loan. 



State St., Chicago, July 27, '82. 

Dear Sir — I am temporarily embarrassed through the 
failure of my New York correspondent to remit. The sum 
of $2,000 would relieve my present necessities, but I dislike 
borrowing money of professional lenders, and would rather 
solicit the aid of some one of my numerous freinds. My 
first thought was of yourself; and, therefore, my object in 
writing is to ask if you can spare me the required sum 
without in any way interfering with your buisiness arrange- 
ments ? You may rely upon having it returned to you on 
the 15th prox., and perhaps before that time. Pray reply 
at your earliest convenience, and oblige 

Your obedient servant, 

George White. 

To Phillip Duke, Eso. 



Reply in the Affirmative. 



Grove St., Cincinnati, July 30, '82. 
Dear Sir — - Your letter of yesterday was duly received, 
and it gratifies me to be able to say that you can have the 
loan asked for. Inclosed you will find a check for the 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 823 

amount, which you will return at the date named and 
oblige, 

Yours, very sincerely, 

P. Duke. 
To Geo. White, Esq. 



Declining to Lend Money. 

Boston, April 8, 1882. 
My Dear Sir — I have always made it a principle in 
life never to borrow or lend money, not even when members 
of my own family have been concerned. As Shakespeare 
says : 

" Neither a borrower nor a lender be. 
For loan oft loses both itself and friend." 

I therefore trust you will excuse conduct which may 
seem harsh and uncourteous on my part, but which I have 
ever found to be the safest, and, in the long run, the kindest 
course for all parties. 

1 remain, my dear sir, 

Yours very faithfully, 

Joseph Johnson. 
To Howard Wells\ Esq. 



Soliciting Renewal of a Promissory Note. 

Ark St., Mobile, May 7, '82. 
Gentlemen — You have in your possession my note for 
$1,000, payable May 14, which I am sorry to say I cannot 
meet at maturity, owing to a combination of circumstances 
adverse to my interests, and not anticipated. If you will 
do me the favor to renew it for ninety days, with interest 
added, I do not doubt my ability to redeem it when due. 



824 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

A compliance with this request will confer an obligation upon, 

and oblige, 

Your obedient servant, 

Thomas Mcjran. 
To Messrs. Sadlier & Co., 
30 William St., N. Y. 



To a Firm, With an Installment. 

Dean St., San Francisco, Cal., May 20, 1882. 
Gentlemen — Inclosed please find $500, in notes of 
San Francisco banks, which I will thank you to place to my 
credit, as the first installment upon my bill, now overdue 
nearly two months. The balance will be rernitted during 
the second week in June, if not before that time. I regret 
the inconvenience caused you by my delay, which is a result 
of our system of long credits, and entirely beyond my 
power to control. 

I remain, gentlemen, 

Your obliged and faithful servant, 

William Dempsev. 
Messrs. Hatch, Wight & Co., 
;^^^ Broadway, New York. 



Offering a Loan of Money for Business Purposes. 



Elizabeth, N. J., Dec. 15, 1882. 
Dear Robert — Knowing that you are desirous of start- 
ino- in business for yourself, I write to say that it is in my 
power to offer you a loan of two thousand dollars ($2,000) 
without interfering in any way with my own business or 
expenditures. I trust that you will let me have a friend's 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 825 

privilege, and accept the money on such terms as will best 

suit you. 

With best wishes for your success, 

I am your friend, 

Austin Keep. 
Robert Rowe, Esq. 

llefefeePS 8f GsFidsleF^Ge. 



Letters of condolence, though a necessity between 
friends, are very difficult to compose, since the more earn- 
estly and touchingly they are written, the more deeply will 
they probe the wounds still bleeding under the stab of 
affliction. The shorter such letters are, the better. Let 
them be short and sincere, and always wind up with a hope 
that Providence will assuage the grief with which it has 
pleased Him in His far-seeing wisdom to afflict your friend. 

On the Death of a Husband. 



FoRDHAM, N. Y., Nov. 29, 1882. 
My Dear Mrs. Manning: 

Words fail to convey my feelings of sorrow on receipt 
of the intelligence of the death of my old and esteemed 
friend, your late husband. My own grief at the loss of a 
true friend teaches me how crushing must be your affliction. 
May the Almighty in His goodness console you in this dark 
hour of your tribulation. 

Believe me always your true and sincere friend, 

Joseph Butler. 

On the Death of a Wife. 



Providence, R. L, November 8, 1882. 
My Dear George : 

I know how futile it is to address words, idle words, to 
you in this moment of supreme anguish, with which it has 



826 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

pleased God to visit you, and shall not say more than that 
the loss of your pure, good, and beautiful wife is a source 
of deep sorrow to the numerous friends who had the privi- 
lege of knowing her, and to none more than 
Yours, in deep sympathy and affection, 

Terrence Barker. 



On the Death of a Son. 



NoRWALK, Conn., June 3, 1882. 
My Dear Julia ; 

If God has plucked the bright blossom from your home 
it is for a purpose none of us dare divine. He alone can 
pour balm upon your crushed heart. The holy joy is 
yours of knowing that angel eyes now watch for your 
coming, and that your beautiful boy will receive you when 
"life's dark day is done." 

If the tenderest or much-loving sympathy could soothe 
you, dear Julia, learn that you have it Irom your 

Friend, ■ 

Laura. 



On the Death of a Mother. 

Tewkesbury, Mass., November 8, 1882. 
My Dear Charles: 

You have lost your mother. There is a very wail in 
the words. She may never be replaced. The dear good 
lady has passed away to a better land, cheered by the 
knowledee of your love and affectionate tenderness, con- 
soled by the thought that her teaching, when you were a 
little boy at her knee, has not been in vain, and that she 
leaves behind her for a little while a son who treads the 
path of rectitude and of honor. Dear Charles, ever 
remember that your darling mother watches you from on 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 82/ 

high, and as she was devoted to you in life, so is she 
devoted to you in death. 

God sustain you under this heavy affliction. 
Your true friend, 

John Traver. 

REPLIES TO ADVERTISEMENTS. 



In replying to advertisements never omit to mention the 
name of the paper in which the advertisement appeared, 
also its date, and a brief allusion to the matter in the ad- 
vertisement. 

Be as concise as possible, covering the ground in a few 
well chosen sentences. 

Book-keeper. 



28 Washington St., 
Boston, Mass., October 20, 1882. 
To Messrs. Winsole, Bird & Co.: 

Gentlemen — In reply to your advertisement is this day's 
Transcript for a competent book-keeper, I respectfully beg 
to offer myself as candidate for that position. I have been 
in the employment of Mr. Thomas Lepy, 19 Tremont 
street, in this city — the large dry-goods store — in the 
capacity of book-keeper for the past three years, and am 
about to leave on the xst proximo, as Mr. Lepy is about to 
retire from business. 

Mr. Lepy has authorized me to refer to him in refer- 
ence to character and ability. I can also refer to Messrs. 
Bose & Pickwick, 17 Remsen Street, with whom I clerked 
for a year and a half. 

Hoping to be fortunate enough to suit your require- 
ments, 

I am, gentlemen, 

Respectfully, 
^ Joseph Sutcliff. 



828 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



General Employment. 



Newburg, nth Sept., 1882. 

Sir — I hasten to reply to your advertisement in the 
N. Y. Sun of to-day. I am most desirous of obtaining 
employment, and would not consider present emolument so 
much an object as the prospect of a permanent and respect- 
able situation. 

I am a young man (age 21), and single. I have re- 
ceived a good commercial education, and am versed in 
book-keepin;;- and accounts generally. In other respects I 
am willing to render myself generally useful, and, although 
I have not hitherto filled a situation, I doubt not but that 
in a short time I shall be able to fulfil any duties assigned 
to me. 

In the event of your doing me the honor to select me 
for the proffered employment, I could furnish you with sat- 
isfactory testimonials as to character, and could, if neces- 
sary, provide guarantees for fidelity. 

Trusting that I may have the honor of hearing from 

you in reply, 

I remain, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

Joseph L'Estrange. 
To W. Henry Cullinan, 

27 Wand St., N. Y. 



Prom a Young Man to a Friend Soliciting a Situation. 



Mohawk, March 28, 1882. 
Dear Edward: 

When you left Galveston, you were kind enough to 
promise that should it be in your power to forward my in- 
interest in any manner you would feel a pleasure in so 
doing. I am now in want of a position, my former em- 



THE LETTER-WRITER. • 829 

ployer having sold his business, and his successor having, 
as he informs me, a sufficient number of hands for all the 
work he is likely to have. If, therefore, you should hear 
of any situation or employment which you consider likely 
to suit me, either in my own business, that of a clerk, or in 
any other in which I can make myself useful, your recom- 
mendation would greatly oblige, and be of material ser- 
vice to. 

Dear Edward, 

Yours, very truly, 

John James. 



Asking Permission to Refer to a Person, 

New Haven, Conn., July 7, 1882. 
Dear Sir : 

As I have had the honor of being known to you for some 
years, during which period I trust my conduct has im- 
pressed you favorably, I take the liberty of soliciting at 
your hand the following favor : 

Messrs. Sebthorp, of Beaver Street, New York, are in 
want of a correspondent at London, and as I am about to 
proceed there on some affairs of my own, and shall prob- 
ably take up my residence in that capital for some years, I 
am anxious to secure a post which appears to me in every 
way eligible, and accords with my views exactly. 

As a matter of course, Messrs. Lebthorp desire testi- 
monials as to my capacity and integrity, and as you are in 
a position to speak positively on these points, I have writ- 
ten to ask you whether I may so far trespass on 3'our kind- 
ness as to mention your name by way of reference. 

Should you kindly grant this request, I need scarcely 
assure you that my endeavor will be to prove to both Messrs. 
Sebthorp and yourself that you have not been mistaken in 
your opinion of me, while I shall ever feel grateful for this 



830 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

further instance of the uiterest evinced by you in the wel- 
fare of 

Yours truly obliged, 

Walter Mott. 
To Mr. George Fouke, 7th St., Cincinnati, O. 

Clerk. 



29 Grove St., St. Lours, Mo., Nov. 16, 1882. 
Mr. Isaac Waters : 

Sir — I see by this day's Chronicle that you are in want 
of a competent Clerk, and I respectfully beg to apply for 
the position. Owing to the financial difficulties of my late 
employers, Messrs. Kendrick & Warts, with whom I was 
Clerk for eight years, I am out of employment. I can refer 
to either of these gentlemen for a testimonial as to my 
industry, good conduct and ability. I may add that I am a 
teetotaler. 

Hoping to receive a favorable reply, 

I am. Respectfully, 

Rudolph Meyer 

Cook. 

100 West 28th St., New York, March'18, 1882. 
Mrs. William Howard : 

Respected Madam — Having seen your advertisement 
for a plain Cook in this day's Herald, I respectfully apply 
for the place. 

I can cook plain joints and do all manner of plain cook- 
ing, as my present employer, Mrs. James Posnett, is 
willing to testify. As Mrs. Posnett is going to Europe on 
the I St of April, I will be out of place on that day. A line 
to Mrs. Posnett will satisfy all inquiries in regard to my 

character and capacity. 

Respectfully, 

Jane Matthews. 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 83 I 

Governess. 



19 Bleecker St., Boston, July 27, 1882. 
Mrs. E. F. Slocum : 

Madam — In reply to your advertisement in to-day's 
Courier for a Governess to teach three little girls French, 
German and English, I hasten to inform you that I am 
graduate of Vassar Class '80 ; that I have resided one year 
in Paris and five months in V-enna, sojourning in both 
capitals for the purpose of completing my knowledge of 
French and German. 

I have been Governess in the family of Mr. George F. 
Witmore, but owing to the death of my dear little pupil, 
their only daughter, Ada, I have been thrown out of 
employment. In addition to my College and Academy 
testimonials, I beg to refer to Mrs. Witmore, Holly Park, 
Brookline, and to the Rev. Mr. Brooks, St. Matthew's 
Church. 

Hoping to be favored by your selection, 

I am, madam. 

Yours respectfully, 

Miriam J. Packard. 

A Pew Lines Accompanying a Gift. 

A WEDDING GIFT. 

200 Fifth Avenue, New York, i8th April. 
Nelly Suter sends her best love, and best wishes, to 
Susie Lorimer, and a little bracelet as a souvenir of an 
event that Nelly trusts will ever prove as happy and auspi- 
cious as she wishes it to be. 

Christening Gift. 

Heath House, June 18, 1882. 
God-papa sends little Mamie a coral ; to enable her to 
cut her teeth, but not the acquaintance of 

Joseph Chambers. 



832 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Flowers. 



15 Madison Avenue, 19 July. 
Roses become Miss Irwin so much, that Mr. Harnett 
earnestly hopes to see the accompanying- bunch in Miss 
Irwin's corsage this evening at Wallack's. 



Music. 



13 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, November, 28th '82. 

Mr. John St. Ruth presents his compliments to Miss 
Delamore and begrs to send her a few selections from the 
operas, her singing last night at Mr. Hamlyn's having 
reminded him of the most celebrated prima donnas. 



Gurof>ean G^'q^^tte in p[,ddressing [fetters. 



Letters to the Queen; to the Prince and Princess of Wales; 
to Relatives of the Queen; to Dukes, Duchesses, Mar- 
quises; Earls, Countesses, etc., etc.; to Judges; Members 
of the Privy Council, Clergymen, etc. 



Letters for her Majesty the Queen are sent under 
cover, either to the Prime Minister, or to whomsoever has 
charge for the time being of her Majesty's private corres- 
pondence. The inclosure is directed " To her Majesty the 
Queen." Official communications are ordinarily addressed, 
"To the Queen's most excellent Majesty." Letters to the 
Queen should be commenced, "Madam," or "Most 
gracious Sovereign," or " May it please your Majesty," 
according to the nature of the communication ; and should 
be concluded, " I have the honor to remain, with the pro- 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 833 

foundest respect, madam, your Majesty's most faithful and 
dutiful subject." 

Letters for the Prince and Princess of Wales should be 
sent under cover to Lieut-Col. Knollys, and the inclosure 
directed to " His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales," or 
"Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales." 

The sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and 
uncles and aunts of the Queen are all addressed as " Royal 
Highness," but her Majesty's nephews and cousins are 
addressed simply as "Your Highness." 

Letters to members of the Royal Family should begin, 
" Sir," or " Madam," and end, " I have the honor to re- 
main, sir (or madam), your Royal Highness's most dutiful 
and most obedient servant." 

A letter to a Duke or Duchess, not members of the 
Royal Family, should be addressed, "To His Grace, the 

Duke of ;" "To Her Grace, the Duchess of . " 

It should begin with "My Lord Duke;" but a duchess, in 
common with all other ladies, from the Queen downwards, 
is addressed as "Madam." 

In writing to a marquis, address the letter, "To the 

Most Hon. the Marquis of ;" and to a marchioness, 

"To the Most Hon. the Marchioness of . " Begin, 

"My Lord Marquis." 

In writing to an earl or countess, address, "To the 

Right Hon. the Earl (or Countess) of . " Begin letters 

to earls, viscounts, or barons, with "My Lord." A letter 
to a viscount or viscountess should be addressed, "To the 

Right Hon. the Viscount (or Lady Viscountess) . " A 

letter to a baron should be addressed, "To the Right Hon." 

The younger sons of earls, and all the sons of viscounts 

and barons, are addressed, "The Hon. , Esquire;" 

and the daughters, and sons' wives, "The Hon. Mrs. , 

or Miss ." Letters should begin, "Sir," or "Madam." 

In addressing embassadors, begin "My Lord," and use 
the title "Your Excellency" throughout, wherever the pro- 



834 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

noun "you" would ordinarily be used. The same title is 
used in addressing the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and the 
Governor of Western Australia. The Governor-General 
of Canada and the Governor of Dover Castle are ad- 
dressed as "Right Honorable." 

A letter to a baronet is addressed to "Sir William , 

Bart.;" one to a knio-ht, "Sir William . " Beein letters 

to baronets, knights, or their wives, "Sir," or "Madam," 
except, of course, in cases where acquaintanceship exists, 
when formality ceases, and letters are begun, "Dear Sir 
William ;" "Dear Lady ." 

Though the word "Esquire" means, in these days, little 
or nothing, yet it is considered more polite, when address- 
ing persons of position, to write the word in full. In ad- 
dressing a French gentleman, also, it is impolite to use the 
initial of "Monsieur" only. The word must be written in 
full, and it is very frequently written twice, thus : 

"A Monsieur. 

"Monsieur ." 

Judges are addressed as "Right Honorable." In ad- 
dressing a consul, write, "To A. B., Esq., Consul to Her 
Brittanic Majesty, at . " 

In directing a letter to any member of the Privy Coun 
oil, prefix "Right Hon." to the name, and add after it 
the title of the office held. Observe the same rules in 
addressing members of the Royal Household. Letters or 
addresses to the House of Peers as a body are addressed, 
" To the Right Hon. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in 
Parliament assembled;" and to the House of Commons, 
" To the Honorable the Commons of the United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland." 

The Speaker of the House is addressed as " The Right 

Hon. , Esquire, Speaker of the House of Commons." 

Individual members, who have no title, are addressed by 
their Christian and surname, followed by "Esq., M. P.," 
except, of course, in those cases where they have a title. 



THE LETTER -WRITER. • 835 

When clergymen have titles, these should be inserted 
after the word Rev., in addressing a letter. The following 
are the forms for addressing our Church dignitaries : " To 

His Grace the Archbishop of . " " To the Right Rev. 

the Bishop of ." "The Rev. John Smith, D. D." 

" The Very Rev. the Dean of . " " The Very Rev. 

John Smith, D. D., Dean of ." " The Ven. Archdea- 
con . " Rectors and curates are addressed as "The 

Rev. John Smith;" "The Rev. William Jones." 

Holders of the higher appointments in the Army and 
Navy are addressed as follows: "To Lieut. -General the 

Duke of , K. C. B., Commander-in-Chief of Her 

Majesty's Forces," etc. "To Field- Marshal the Viscount 

, K. G., Master-General of the Ordnance," etc. "To 

the Right Hon. Lord , Commander of Her Majesty's 

Forces," etc. "To Colonel the Hon. A. ." "To Sir 

, K. C. B., Admiral and Commander of the Chan- 
nel Fleet," etc. "To Sir , Captain of Her 

Majesty's ship Black Prince." In addressing majors, cap- 
stains, or lieutenants, add the names of the Jregiments to 
which they belong. In the Navy, address, "Lieutenant 
Brown, R. N., on board H. M. S. Resistance." " Mr. 
Smith, Midshipman of H. M. S. Devastation," 



^api®ug F©PFi^g @f r^uifeatei®^g. 



Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Bogert 

At Home 

Saturday, November 5th, from 

3 to 6 o'clock, P. M. 

Wednesdays, 1 

Nov. 1 6th and 30th, Vfrom 8 to i i P. M. 

Dec. 14th and 28th. ) 

Flushing. 



836 ' THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Political. 

Mr. Chas. Pratt 

requests the pleasure of your company 

at No. 232 Clinton Avenue, 

on Tuesday evening^, March i6th, 

at 9.30 o'clock, to meet 

Hon. Seth Low 

immediately after his address at the Adelphi 

Academy. 



Mr. and Mrs. James Parker 

request the pleasure of your company at "The Castle," 

Perth Amboy, N. J., on Thursday, November 

15th, 1882, at 8 P. M., to celebrate the 25th 

Anniversary of their marriage and his 50th Birthday. 

Also to meet Mr. and Mrs. James Parker, Jr. 



In Memoriam. 

Arthur G. Coler, 

Died June 15th, 1880, 

At Springfield, 111., 

Aged 13 Years and 5 Months. 

Brooklyn, June 26th, 1880. 



Mr. & Mrs. Henry M. Alexander, 
request the honor of your presence 
on 
Tuesday evening, November fifteenth, 
from eight until eleven o'clock, 
to meet the 
Rev. Professor Patton, 
of 
Princeton Theological Seminary, 
16 West 25th St. 
R. S. V. P. 



i 



THE LETTER-WRITER. 837 

The Officers 

of the 

Naval Station, New York, 

request the pleasure of your company 

at a 

Farewell Reception 

given to 

Admiral & Mrs. Cooper, 

on Tuesday, March 21st, 1882, 

from 2 to 5 p. M. 

Navy Yard, Brooklyn, 

Dancing. 



1877. 1880. 

Wooden Wedding. 

Mr. & Mrs. Jacob Flint, 

At Home 

Thursday evening, December 30, 1882, 

at half-past eight o'clock. 

232 East St. 



Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Bonnett 

requests the pleasure of your company 

at the mariage of their daughter, 

Louise Earle, 

to 

Henry Whitney Bates, 

on Thursday, June first, 

at half-past three o'clock, P. M., 

from the residence of her uncle, 

S. S. Marvin, Esq., 

Emsworth, Pennsylvania, 

1882. 



838 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The Dancing Class requests the pleasure of your com- 
pany Wednesday evening, , 18 at 

eight o'clock, at the residence of 

M , 

Compliments of — 

R. S. V. P. 



Your presence is requested at the 

marriage ceremony of 

Miss Anna Ward Crawford, 

and 

Mr. George De Witt Thornton, 

Wednesday afternoon, 

October twelfth, at half-past three 

o'clock, 

St. Paul's Church, 

Norwalk, Conn. 

1881. 

18 West St. 




BEE'SR^MER^ KEB SBaiElFY. 



BePORIMEF^JF JlYiB ^BQIEWY 



The Philosophy of Etiquette. 



yrYHERE is a philosophy in all the requirements of good 
e-^ breeding, whether in the etiquette of the table, the 
street, the call or in the discharge of other social duties and 
pleasures. The requirements which polite society demand 
of its votaries are not mere arbitrary rules, but will be 
found to be invariably the result of a careful study of the 
greatest good and pleasure of the greatest number. Take, 
for instance, a very gross and marked example : etiquette 
requires that the food shall be borne to the mouth on the 
fork and never on the knife. It is, evidently, most unclean, 
and, therefore, disagreeable, to see a person thrust a knife 
into his mouth, and exceedingly trying to delicate nerves to 
see him in continual danger of involuntarily enlarging his 
mouth by an awkward slip of the knife. 

If you have ever eaten next to a left-handed person at a 
crowded table, you need not be told of the philosophy of 
the rule that every one should, at least, eat "right- 
handed." 

What is true of these is also true of all the other 
demands of etiquette, and he is unwise, as well as boorish, 
who will not adapt himself to custom in such particulars after 
ascertaining what the usages of good society are. 

Esizr^yEspsFE F8R. liflBIES. 



Introductions. 

introduce persons who are mutually unknown is to 
undertake a serious responsibility, and to certify to each 
the respectability of the other. Never undertake this 

8+1 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 



842 



responsibility without, in the first place, asking yourself 
whether the persons are likely to be agreeable to each 
other ; nor, in the second place, without ascertaining 




whether it will be acceptable to both parties to become 
acquainted. 

Always introduce the gentlemen to the lady — never 
the lady to the gentlemen. The chivalry of etiquette 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 843 

assumes that the lady is invaribly the superior in right 
of her sex, and that the gentleman is honored in the 
introduction. 

Never present a gentleman to a lady without first asking 
her permission to do so. 

When you are introduced to a gentleman, never offer 
your hand. When introduced, persons limit their recog- 
nition of each other to a bow. 

Persons who have met at the house of a mutual friend 
without being introduced should not bow if they afterwards 
meet elsewhere. A bow implies acquaintance ; and per- 
sons who have not been introduced are not acquainted. 

If you are walking with one friend, and presently meet 
with, or are joined by, a second, do not commit the too 
frequent error of introducing them to each other. You 
have even less right to do so than if they encountered 
each other at your house during a morning call. 

There are some exceptions to the etiquette of intro- 
duction. At a ball, or evening party where there is dancing, 
the mistress of the house may introduce any gentleman to 
any lady without first asking the lady's permission. But she 
should first ascertain whether the lady is willing to dance ; 
and this out of consideration for the gentleman, who may 
otherwise be refused. No man likes to be refused the hand 
of a lady, though it be only for a quadrille. 

A sister may present her brother, or a mother her son, 
without any kind of preliminary. 

Friends may introduce friends at the of the house of a 
mutual acquaintance ; but, as a rule, it is better to be 
introduced by the mistress of the house. Such an intro- 
duction carries more authority with it. 

Introductions at evening parties are now almost wholly 
dispensed with. Persons who meet at a friend's house are 
ostensibly upon an equality, and pay a bad compliment to 
the host by appearing suspicious and formal. Some old- 
fashioned country hosts still persevere in introducing 



844 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

each new comer to all the assembled guests. It is a cus- 
tom that cannot be too soon abolished, and one that places 
the last unfortunate visitor in a singularly awkward position. 
All that she can do is to make a semicircular courtesy, like 
a concert singer before an audience, and bear the general 
gaze with as much composure as possible. 

An introduction given at a ball for the mere purpose of 
conducting a lady through a dance does not give the gen- 
tleman any right to bow to her on a future occasion. If he 
commits this error, she may remember that she is not bound 
to see, or return, his salutation. 



Letters of Introduction. 



Do not lightly give or promise letters of introduction. 
Always remember that when you give a letter of introduc- 
tion you lay yourself under an obligation to the friend to 
whom it is addressed. If she lives in a great city, such as 
Chicago or Boston, you in a measure compel her to undergo 
the penalty of escorting the stranger to some of those 
places of public entertainment in which the capital abounds. 
If your friend be a married lady, and the mistress of a 
house, you put her to the expense of inviting the stranger 
to her table. We cannot be too cautious how we tax 
the time and purse of a friend, or weigh too seriously 
the question of mutual advantage in the introduction. 
Always ask yourself whether the person introduced will 
be an acceptable acquaintance to the one to whom you 
present her ; and whether the pleasure of knowing her will 
compensate for the time or money which it costs to enter- 
tain her. If the stranger is in any way unsuitable in habits 
or temperament, you inflict an annoyance on your friend 
instead of a pleasure. In questions of introduction never 
oblige one friend to the discomfort of another. 

Those to whom letters of introduction have been given 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 845 

shoula send them to the person to whom they are 
addressed, and inclose a card. Avoid delivering a letter of 
introduction in person. It places you in the most undigni- 
fied position imaginable, and compels you to wait while it is 
being read, like a servant who has been told to wait for an 
answer. If the receiver of the letter be a really well-bred 
person, she will call upon you or leave her card the next 
day, and you should return her attention within the week. 

If, on the other hand, a stranger sends you a letter of 
introduction and her card, you are bound by the laws of 
politeness and hospitality, not only to call upon her the next 
day, but to follow up that attention with others. If you 
are in a position to do so, the most correct proceeding is to 
invite her to dine with you. Should this not be within your 
power, you can probably escort her to some of the exhibi- 
tions, bazaars, or concerts of the season ; any of which 
would be interesting to a provincial visitor. In short, 
etiquette demands that you shall exert yourself to show 
kindness to the stranger, if only out of compliment to the 
friend who introduced her to you. 

If you invite her to take dinner with you, it is a better 
compliment to ask some others to meet her than to dine with 
h&T tcte-a-tete. You are thereby giving her an opportunity 
of making other acquaintances, and are assisting your friend 
in still farther promoting the purpose for which she gave her 
the introduction to yourself. 

A letter of introduction should be given unsealed, not 
alone because your friend may wish to know what you have 
said of her, but also as a guarantee of your own good faith. 
As you should never give such a letter unless you can speak 
highly of the bearer, this rule of etiquette is easy to observe. 
By requesting your friend to fasten the envelope before 
forwarding the letter to its destination, you tacitly give her 
permission to inspect its contents. 



846 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Visiting Cards. 



Visits of ceremony should be short. If even the conver- 
sation should have become animated, beware of letting your 
call exceed half-an-hour's length. It is always better to let 
your friends regret rather than desire your withdrawal. 

On returning visits of ceremony you may, without impo- 
liteness, leave your card at the door without going in. Do 
not fail, however, to inquire if the family be well. 

Should there be daughters or sisters residing with the 
lady upon whom you call, you may turn down a corner of 
your card, to signify that the visit is paid to all. l.t is in 
■ better taste, however, to leave cards for each. 

Unless when returning thanks for "kind inquiries, " or 
announcing your arrival in, or departure from, town, it is not 
considered respectful to send round cards by a servant. 

Leave-taking cards have P. P. C. {potir prendre cotige) 
written in the corner. Some use P. D. A. {potir dire 
adieu). 

Autographic facsimiles for visiting cards are affectations 
in any persons but those who are personally remarkable for 
talent, and whose autographs, or facsimiles of them, would 
be prized as curiosities. 

Visits of condolence are paid within the week after the 
event which occasions them. Personal visits of this kind are 
made by relations and very intimate friends only. Acquaint- 
ances should leave cards with narrow mourning borders. 

On the first occasion when you are received by the family 
after the death of one of its members, it is etiquette to wear 
slight mourning. 

Umbrellas should invariably be left in the hall. 

Never take favorite dogs into a drawing-room when you 
make a morning call. Their feet may be dusty, or they may 
bark at the sight of strangers, or, being of a too friendly 
disposition, may take the liberty of lying on a lady's gown, 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 847 

or jumping on the sofas and easy chairs. Where your friend 
has a favorite cat already egtabHshed before the fire, a battle 
may ensue, and one or both of the pets be seriously hurt. 
Besides, many persons have a constitutional antipathy to 
doo^s, and others never allow their own to be seen in the 
sitting-rooms. For all or any of these reasons, a visitor has 
no right to inflict upon her friend the society of her dog as 
well as of herself. Neither is it well for a mother to take 
young children with her when she pays morning visits ; their 
presence, unless they are unusually well trained, can only be 
productive of anxiety to both yourself and your hostess. She, 
while striving to amuse them, or to appear interested in them, 
is secretly anxious for the fate of her album, or the orna- 
ments on her etagcrc; while the mother is trembling lest her 
children should say or do something objectionable. 

If other visitors are announced, and you have already 
remained as long as courtesy requires, wait till they are 
seated, and then rise from ybur chair, take leave of your 
hostess, and bow politely to the newly-arrived guests. 
You will, perhaps, be urged to remain, but, having once 
risen, it is best to go. There is always a certain air of 
gauchcrie in resuming your seat, and repeating the cere- 
mony of leave-taking. 

If you have occasion to look at your watch during a 
call, ask permission to do so, and apologize for it on the 
plea of other appointments. 

In receiving morning visitors, it is not necessary that 
the lady should lay aside the employment in which she may 
be engaged, particularly if it consists of light or ornamental 
needle-work. Politeness, however, requires that music, 
drawing, or any occupation which would completely engross 
the attention, be at once abandoned. 

You need not advance to receive visitors when an- 
nounced, unless they are persons to whom you are desirous 
of testifying particular attention. It is sufficient if a lady 
rises to receive her visitors, moves forward a single step to 



848 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

shake hands with them, and remains standing till they are 
seated. 

When your visitors rise to take leave, you should 
rise also, and remain standing till they have quite left the 
room. 

A lady should dress well, but not too richly, when she 
pays a morning visit. 



Conversation. 

There is no conversation so graceful, so varied, so 
sparkling, as that of an intellectual and cultivated woman. 
Excellence in this particular is, indeed, one of the attributes 
of the sex, and should be cultivated by every gentlewoman 
who aspires to please in general society. 

In order to talk well, three conditions are indespens- 
able, namely ^ — tact, a good memory, and a fair educa- 
tion. 

Remember that people take more interest in their own 
affairs than in anything else which you can name. If you 
wish your conversation to be thoroughly agreeable, lead a 
mother to talk of her children, a young lady of her last 
ball, an author of his forthcoming book, or an artist of 
his exhibition picture. Having furnished the topic, you 
need only listen ; and you are sure to be thought not 
only agreeable, but thoroughly sensible and well-informed. 

Be careful, however, on the other hand, not always to 
make a point of talking to persons upon general matters 
relating to their profession. To show an interest in their 
immediate concerns is flattering ; but to converse with them 
too much about their own arts looks as if you thought them 
ignorant of other topics. 

Remember in conversation that a voice " gentle and 
low" is, above all other extraneous acquirements, "an 
excellent thing in woman." There is a certain distinct but 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 849 

subdued tone of voice which is pecuHar to only well-bred 
persons. A loud voice is both disagreeable and vulgar. 
It is better to err by the use of too low rather than too loud 
a tone. 

Remember that all " slang" is vulgar. 

The use of proverbs is equally vulgar in conversation ; 
and puns, unless they rise to the rank of witticisms, are to 
be scrupulously avoided. A lady -punster is a most unpleas- 
ing phenomenon, and we would advise no young woman, 
however witty she may be, to cultivate this kind of verbal 
talent. 

Long arguments in general company, however enter- 
taining to the disputants, are tiresome to the last degree to 
all others. You should always endeavor to prevent the 
conversation from dwelling too long upon one topic. 

Religion is a topic which should never be introduced 
into society. It is the one subject on which persons are 
most likely to differ, and least able to preserve temper. 

Never interrupt a person who is speaking. It has been 
aptly said that "if you interrupt a speaker in the middle of 
his sentence, you act almost as rudely as if, when walking 
with a companion, you were to thrust yourself before him, 
and stop his progress." 

To listen well is almost as great an art as to talk well. 
It is not enough only to listen. You must endeavor to 
seem interested in the conversation of others. 

It is considered extremely ill-bred when two persons 
whisper in society, or converse in a language with which 
all present are not familiar. If you have private matters to 
discuss, you should appoint a proper time and place to do 
so, without paying others the ill compliment of excluding 
them from your conversation. 

If a foreigner be one of the guests at a small party, and 
does not understand English sufficiently to follow what is 
said, good breeding demands that the conversation shall be 



8SO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

carried on in his own language. If at a dinner-party, the 
same rule applies to those at his end of the table. 

If upon the entrance of a visitor you carry on the threda 
of a previous conversation, you should briefly recapitulate to 
him what has been said before he arrived. 

Do not be always witty, even though you should be so 
happily gifted as to need the caution. To outshine others 
on every occasion is the surest road to unpopularity. 

Always look, but never stare, at those with whom you 
converse. 

In order to meet the general needs of conversation in 
society, it is necessary that a gentlewoman should be 
acquainted with the current news and historical events of, at 
least, the last few years. 

Never talk upon subjects of which you know nothing, 
unless it be for the purpose of acquiring information. Many 
young ladies imagine that because they play a little, sing a 
little, draw a little, and frequent exhibitions and operas, 
they are qualified judges of art. No mistake is more 
egregious or universal. 

Those who introduce anecdotes into their conversation 
are warned that these should invariably be, "short, witty, 
eloquent, new, and not far-fetched." 

Scandal is the least excusable of all conversational 
vulgarities. 

Dress. 



To dress well requires something more than a full purse 
and a pretty figure. It needs taste, good sense, and refine- 
ment. Dress may almost be classed as one of the fine arts. 
It is certainly one of those arts the cultivation of which is 
indispensable to any person moving in the upper or middle 
classes of society. Very clever women are too frequently 
indifferent to the graces of the toilette ; and women who 
wish to be thought clever affect indifference. In the one 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 85 I 

case it is an error, and in the other a folly. It is not 
enough that a o-entlewoman should be clever, or well- 
educated, or well-born. To take her due place in society, 
she must be acquainted with all that this little book pro- 
poses to teach. She must, above all else, know how to 
enter a room, how to perform a graceful salutation, and how 
to dress. Of these three important qualifications, the most 
important, because the most observed, is the latter. 

Let your style of dress always be appropriate to the 
hour of the day. To dress too finely in the morning, or to 
be seen in a morning dress in the evening, is equally vulgar 
and out of place. 

Light and inexpensive materials are fittest for morning 
we'ar ; dark silk dresses for the promenade or carriage ; and 
low dresses of rich or transparent stuffs for the dinner and 
ball. A young lady cannot dress with too much simplicity 
in the early part of the day. A morning dress of some 
simple material, and delicate whole color, with collar and 
cuffs of spotless linen, is, perhaps, the most becoming and 
elepfant of morninof toilettes. 

Never dress very richly or showily in the street. It 
attracts attention of no enviable kind, and is looked upon as 
a want of good breeding. In the carriage a lady may dress 
as elegantly as she pleases. With respect to ball-room 
toilette, its fashions are so variable, that statements which 
are true of it to-day may be false a month hence. Respect- 
ing no institution of modern society, is it so difficult to pro- 
nounce half-a-dozen permanent rules. 

We may, perhaps, be permitted to suggest the following 
leading principles ; but we do so with diffidence. Rich 
colors harmonize with rich brunette complexions and dark 
hair. Delicate colors are t^e most suitable for delicate and 
fragile styles of beauty. Very young ladies are never so 
suitably attired as in white. Ladies who dance should 
never wear dresses of light and diaphanous materials, such 
as tulle, gauze, crape, net, etc., over colored silk slips, 



852 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Silk dresses are not suitable for dancing. A married lady 
who dances only a few quadrilles may wear a dccollcttc silk 
dress with propriety. 

Very stout persons should never wear white. It has 
the effect of adding to the bulk of the figure. 

Black and scarlet, or black and violet, are worn in 
mourning. 

A lady in deep mourning should not dance at all. 

However fashionable it may be to wear very long 
dresses, those ladies who go to a ball with the intention of 
dancing, and enjoying the dance, should cause their dresses 
to be made short enough to clear the ground. We would 
ask them whether it is not better to accept this slight devia- 
tion from an absurd fashion, than to appear for three parts 
of the evening in a torn and pinned-up skirt ? 

Well-made shoes, whatever their color or material, and 
faultless gloves, are indispensable to the effect of a ball- 
room toilette. 

Much jewelry is out of place in a ball-room. Beautiful 
flowers, whether natural or artificial, are the loveliest orna- 
ments that a lady can wear on these oocasions. 

At small dinnerparties, low dresses are not so indispens- 
able as they were held to be some years since. High 
dresses of transparent materials, and low bodices with 
capes of black lace, are considered sufficiently full dress on 
these occasions. At large dinners only the fullest dress is 
appropriate. 

Very young ladies should wear but little jewe'ry. Pearls 
are deemed most appropriate for the young and unmarried. 

Let your jewelry be always the best of its kind. Nothing 
is so vulgar, either in youth or in age, as the use of false 
ornaments. 

There is as much propriety to be observed in the wear- 
idg of jewelry as in the wearing of dresses. Diamonds, 
pearls, rubies, and all transparent precious stones, belong 
to evening dress, and should on no account be worn before 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 853 

dinner. In the morning let your rings be of the more sim- 
ple and massive kind ; wear no bracelets ; and limit your 
jewelry to a good brooch, gold chain and watch. Your 
diamonds and pearls would be as much out of place during 
the morning as a low dress or a wreath. 

It is well to remember in the choice of jewelry that mere 
costliness is not always the test of value ; and that an 
exquisite work of art, such as a fine cameo, or a natural 
rarity, such as black pearl, is a more distiiigiic possession 
than a large brilliant, which any rich and tasteless vulgarian 
can buy as easily as yourself. Of all precious stones, the 
opal is one of the most lovely and least common-place. No 
vulgar woman purchases an opal. She invariable prefers the 
more showy ruby, emerald or sapphire. 

A true gentlewoman is always faultlessly neat. No rich- 
ness of toilette in the afternoon, no diamonds in the evening, 
can atone for unbrushed hair, a soiled collar, or untidy slip- 
pers at breakfast. 

Never be seen in the street without gloves. Your 
gloves should fit to the last degree of perfection. 

In these days of public baths and universal progress, 
we trust that it is unnecessary to do more than hint at the 
necessity of the most fastidious personal cleanliness. The 
hair, the teeth, the nails; should be faultlessly kept; and a 
muslin dress that has been worn once too often, a dingy 
pocket-handkerchief, or a soiled pair of light gloves are 
things to be scrupulously avoided by any young lady who 
is ambitious of preserving the exterior of a gentlewoman. 

Remember that the make of your corsage is of even 
greater importance than the make of your dress. No dress- 
maker can fit you well, or make your bodices in the manner 
most becoming to your figure, if the corsage beneath be not 
of the best description. 

Your shoes and gloves should always be faultless. 

Perfumes should be used only in the evening, and then 
in moderation. Let your perfumes be of the most delicate 



854 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



and recherche kind. Nothing- is more vulgar than a coarse, 
ordinary scent ; and of all coarse, ordinary scents, the most 
objectionable are musk and patchouli. 

Finally, every lady should remember that to dress well is 
a duty which she owes to society; but that to make it her 




COKRECT DINNER TABLE. 



idol is to commit something worse than a folly. Fashion is 
made for woman ; not woman for fashion. 



Morning and Evening Parties. 

The morning party is a modern invention. It was 
unknown to our fathers and mothers, and even to ourselves 
till quite lately. A morning party is given during the months 
of June, July, August, September, and sometimes October. 
It bemns about two o'clock and ends about seven, and the 
entertainment consists for the most part of conversation, 
music, and (if there be a garden) croquet, lawn tennis. 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 



855 



archery, etc. The refreshments are given in the form of a 
dejeuner a la fourchette. Receptions are held during the 
winter season. 

Elegant morning dress, general good manners, and some 
acquaintance with the topics of the day and the games above 




INCORRECT DINNER TABLE. 



named, are all the qualifications especially necessary to a 
lady at a morning party, and "At Homes;" music and 
elocution at receptions. 

An evening party begins about nine o'clock p. m., and ends 
about midnight, or somewhat later. Good-breeding neither 
demands that you should present yourself at the commence- 
ment, nor remain till the close of the evening. You come 
and go as may be most convenient to you, and by these 
means are at liberty, during the height of the season, when 
evening parties are numerous, to present yourself at two or 
three houses during a single evening. 

When your name is announced, look for the lady of the 



856 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

house, and pay your respects to her before you even seem to 
see any other of your friends who may be in the room. At 
very large and fashionable receptions, the hostess is gener- 
ally to be found near the door. Should you, however, find 
yourself separated by a dense crowd of guests, you are at 
liberty to recognize those who are near you, and those 
whom you encounter as you make your way slowly through 
the throng. 

If you are at the house of a new acquaintance and find 
yourself among entire strangers, remember that by so meet- 
ing under one roof you are all in a certain sense made 
known to one another, and should, therefore, converse freely 
as equals. To shrink away to a side-table and affect to be 
absorbed in some album or illustrated work ; or, if you find 
one unlucky acquaintance in the room to fasten upon her 
like a drowning man clinging to a spar, are gaucheries which 
no shyness can excuse. 

If you possess any musical accomplishments, do not 
wait to be pressed and entreated by your hostess, but com- 
ply immediately when she pays you the compliment of invit- 
ing you to play or sing. Remember, however, that only 
the lady of the house has the right to ask you. If others 
do so, you can put them off in some polite way, but must 
not comply till the hostess herself invites you. • 

Be scrupulous to observe silence when any of the com- 
pany are playing or singing. Remember that they are doing 
this for the amusement of the rest ; and that to talk at such 
a time is as ill-bred as if you were to turn your back upon a 
person who was talking to you and begin a conversation 
with some one else. 

If you are yourself the performer, bear in mind that in 
music, as in speech, "brevity is the soul of wit." Two 
verses of a song, or four pages of a piece, are at all times 
enough to give pleasure. If your audience desire more 
they will ask for it ; and it is infinitely more flattering to be 
encored than to receive the thanks of your hearers, not so 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 857 

much in gratitude for what you have given them, but in re- 
lief that you have left off. You should try to suit your 
music, like your conversation, to your company. A solo 
ot Beethoven's would be as much out of place in some 
circles as a comic song at a Quaker's meeting. To those 
who only care for the light popularities of the season, give 
Verdi, Suppe, Sullivan, or Offenbach. To connoisseurs, 
if you perform well enough to venture, give such music as 
will be likely to meet the exigencies of a fine taste. Above 
all, attempt nothing that you cannot execute with ease and 
precision. 

If the party be of a small and social kind, and those 
games called by the French Us jeux innocents are proposed, 
do not object to join in them when invited. It may be that 
they demand some slight exercise of wit and readiness, and 
that you do not feel yourself calculated to shine in them ; but 
it is better to seem dull than disagreeable, and those who are 
obliging can always find some clever neighbor to assist them 
in the moment of need. 

Impromptu charades are often organized at friendly parties. 
Unless you have really some talent for acting and some 
readiness of speech, you should remember that you only put 
others out and expose your own inability by taking part in 
these entertainments. Of course, if your help is really 
needed, and you would disoblige by refusing, you must do 
your best, and by doing it as quiet and coolly as possible, 
avoid being awkward or ridiculous. 

Even though you may take no pleasure in cards, some 
knowledge of the etiquette and rules belonging to the games 
most in vogue is necessary to you in society. If a fourth 
hand is wanted at euchre, or if the rest of the company sit 
down to a round game, you would be deemed guilty of an 
impoliteness if you refused to join. 

The games most commonly played in society are euchre, 
draw-poker, and whist. 



858 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



The Dinner-Party. 



To be acquainted with every detail of the etiquette per- 
taining to this subject is of the highest importance to every 
lady. Ease, savoir-faire, and good-breeding are nowhere 
more indispensable than at the dinner-table, and the 
absence ot them is nowhere more apparent. How to eat 
soup and what to do with a cherry-stone are weighty con- 
siderations when taken as the index of social status ; and it 
is not too much to say, that a young woman who elected to 
take claret with her fish, or ate peas with her knife, would 
justly risk the punishment of being banished from good 
society. 

An invitation to dinner should be replied to immedi- 
ately, and unequivocally accepted or declined. Once 
accepted, nothing but an event of the last importance should 
cause you to fail in your engagement. 

To be exactly punctual is the strictest politeness on these 
occasions. If you are too early, you are in the way ; if too 
late you spoil the dinner, annoy the hostess, and are hated 
by the rest of the guests. Some authorities are even of 
opinion that in the question of a dinner-party "never" is 
better than "late"; and one author has gone so far as to 
say, " if you do not reach the house till dinner is served, you 
had better retire, and send an apology, and not interrupt the 
harmony of the courses by awkward excuses and cold accept- 
ance." 

When the party is assembled, the mistress or master of 
the house will point out to each gentleman the lady whom 
he is to conduct to the table. 

The lady who is the greatest stranger should be taken 
down by the master of the house, and the gentleman who is 
the greatest stranger should conduct the hostess. Married 
ladies take precedence of single ladies, elder ladies of 
younger ones, and so forth. 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 859 

When dinner is announced, the host offers his arm to the 
lady of most distinction, invites the rest to follow by a few 
words or a bow, and leads the way. The lady of the house 
should then follow with the gentleman who is most entitled 
to that honor, and the visitors follow in the order that has 
been previously arranged. The lady of the house frequently 
remains, however, till the last, that she may see her guests 
go in their prescribed order ; but the plan is not a conven- 
ient one. It is much better that the hostess should be in her 
place as the guests enter the dining-room, in order that she 
may indicate their seats to them as they enter, and not find 
them all crowded together in uncertainty when she arrives. 

The plan of cards, with the names of the guests on them, 
opposite their chairs, is a very useful one. 

The lady of the house takes the head of the table. The 
gentleman who led her down to dinner occupies the seat on 
her right hand, and the gentleman next in order of preced- 
ence, that on her left. The master of the house takes the 
foot of the table. The lady whom he escorted sits on his 
right hand, and the lady next in order of precedence on his 
left. 

As soon as you are seated at table, remove your gloves, 
place your table napkin across your knees, and remove the 
roll which you will probably find within it to the left side of 
your plate. 

The soup should be placed on the table first. All well- 
ordered dinners begin with soup, whether in summer or 
winter. The lady of the house should help it, and send it 
round without asking each individual in turn. It is as much 
an understood thing as the bread beside each plate, and those 
who do not choose it are always at liberty to leave it 
untasted. 

In eating soup, remember always to take it from the side 
of the spoon, and to make no sound in doing so. 

If the servants do not go round with wine, the gentlemen 
should help the ladies and themselves to sherry or sauterne 
immediately after the soup. 



86o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

You should never ask for a second supply of either soup 
or fish ; it delays the next course, and keeps the table 
waiting. 

Never offer to "assist" your neighbors to this or that 
dish. The word is inexpressibly vulgar — all the more vul- 
gar for its affectation of elegance. "Shall I send you some 
mutton.''" or "may I help you to canvas back.-*" is better 
chosen and better bred. 

As a general rule, it is better not to ask your guests if 
they will partake of the dishes ; but to send the plates round, 
and let them accept or decline them as they please. At very 
large dinners it is sometimes customary to distribute little 
lists of the order of the dishes at intervals along the table. 
It mi;st be confessed that this gives somewhat the air of a 
dinner at an hotel ; but it has the advantage of enabling the 
visitors to select their fare, and, as " forewarned is fore- 
armed," to keep a corner, as the children say, for their 
favorite dishes. 

As soon as you are helped, begin to eat ; or, if the viands 
are too hot for your palate, take up your knife and fork and 
appear to begin. To wait for others is now not only old- 
fashioned, but ill-bred. 

Never offer to pass on the plate to which you have been 
helped. 

In helping soup, fish, or any other dish, remember that 
to overfill a plate is as bad as to supply it too scantily. 

Silver fish knives will now always be met with at the best 
tables ; but where there are none, a piece of crust should be 
taken in the left hand, and the fork in the right. There is 
no exception to this rule in eating fish. 

We presume it is scarcely necessary to remind our fair 
reader that she is never, under any circumstances, to con- 
vey her knife to her mouth. Peas are eaten with the fork ; 
tarts, curry and puddings of all kinds with the spoon. 

Always help fish with a fish-slice, and tart and puddings 
with a spoon, or, if necessary, a spoon and fork. 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. • 86l 

Asparagus must be helped with the asparagus-tongs. 

In eating asparagus, it is well to observe what others 
do, and act accordingly. Some very well-bred people eat 
it with the fingers ; others cut off the heads, and convey 
them to the mouth upon the fork. It would be difficult to 
say which is the more correct. 

In eating stone fruit, such as cherries, damsons, etc., 
the same rule had better be observed. Some put the 
stones out from the mouth into a spoon, and so convey 
them to the plate. Others cover the lips with the hand, 
drop them unseen into the palm, and so deposit them on 
the side of the plate. In our own opinion, the latter is the 
better way, as it effectually conceals the return of the 
stones, which is certainly the point of highest importance. 
Of one thing we may be sure, and that is, that they must 
never be dropped from the mouth to the plate. 

In helping sauce, always pour it on the side of the 
plate. 

If the servants do not go round with the wine (which is 
by far the best custom), the gentlemen at a dinner-table 
should take upon themselves the office of helping those 
ladies who sit near them. 

Unless you are a total abstainer, it is extremely uncivil 
to decline taking wine if you are invited to do so. 

It is particulary ill-bred to empty your glass on these 
occasions. 

Certain wines are taken with certain dishes, by old- 
established custom — as sherry or sauterne, with soup and 
fish ; hock and claret with roast meat ; punch with turtle ; 
champagne with sweet-bread or cutlets ; port with venison ; 
port or burgundy, with game ; sparkling wines between the 
roast and the confectionery ; madeira with sweets ; port 
with cheese ; and for desert, port, tokay, madeira, sherry, 
and claret. Red wines should never be iced, even in 
summer. Claret and burgundy should always be slightly 
warmed ; claret-cup and champagne should, of course, be 
iced. 



862 • THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Instead of cooling their wines in the ice-pail, some hosts 
introduce clear ice upon the table, broken up in small lumps, 
to be put inside the glasses. This cannot be too strictly 
reprehended. Melting ice cannot but weaken the quality 
and flavor of the wine. Those who desire to drink wine 
and water can ask for iced water if they choose ; but it 
savors too much of economy on the part of a host to 
insinuate the ice inside the glasses of his guests when 
the wine could be more effectually iced outside the bottle. 

A silver knife and fork should be placed to each guest 
at desert. 

It is wise never to partake of any dish without knowing 
of what ingredients it is composed. You can always ask 
the servant who hands it to you, and you therby avoid all 
danger of having to commit the impoliteness of leaving it, 
and showing that you do not approve of it. 

Never speak while you have anything in your mouth. 

Be careful never to taste soups or puddings till you are 
sure they are sufficiently cool ; as, by disregarding this 
caution, you may be compelled to swallow what is danger- 
ously hot, or be driven to the unpardonable alternative of 
returing it to you plate. 

When eating or drinking, avoid every kind of audible 
testimony to the fact. 

Finger-glasses, containing water slightly warmed and 
perfumed, are placed to each person at dessert. In these 
you may dip the tips of your fingers, wiping them after- 
wards on your table-napkin. If the finger-glass and doyley 
are placed on your dessert-plate, you should immediately 
remove the doyley to the left of your plate, and place the 
finger-glass upon it. By ihese means you leave the right 
for the wine-glasses. 

Be careful to know the shapes of the various kinds of 
wine-glasses commonly in use, in order that you may never 
put forward one for another. High and narrow, and very 
broad and shallow glasses, are used for champagne ; large 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 863 

goblet-shaped glasses for burgundy and claret ; ordinary 
wine wine-glasses for sherry and madeira ; green glasses 
for hock ; and somewhat large, bell-shaped glasses for 
port. 

Port, sherry, and madeira are decanted. Hocks and 
champagnes appear in their native bottles. Claret and 
burgundy are handed round in a claret-Jug. 

The servants leave the room when the dessert is on the 
table; 

Coffee and liquors should be handed round when the 
dessert has been about a quarter of an hour on the table. 
After this the ladies generally retire. 

The lady of the house should never send away her 
plate, or appear to have done eating, till all her guests 
have finished. 

If you should unfortunately overturn or break anything, 
do not apologize for it. You can show your regret in your 
face, but it is not well-bred to put it into words. 

To abstain from taking the last piece on the dish, or the 
last glass of wine in the decanter, only because it is the 
last, is highly ill-bred. It implies a fear on your part tKat 
the vacancy cannot be supplied, and almost conveys an 
affront to your host. 

To those ladies who have houses and servants at com- 
mand, we have one or two remarks to offer. Every house- 
keeper should be acquainted with the routine of a dinner 
and the etiquette of a dinner-table. No lady should be 
utterly dependent on the taste and judgment of her cook. 
Though she need not know how to dress a dish, she should 
be able to judge of it when served. The mistress of the 
house, in short, should be to a cpok what a publisher is to 
his authors — that is to say, competent to form a judgment 
upon their works, though himself incapable of writing even 
a magazine article. 

If you wish to have a good dinner, and do not know in 
what manner to set about it, you will do wisely to order it 



S64 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

from some first-rate restaurateur. By these means you 
insure the best cookery and faultless carte. 

Bear in mind that it is your duty to entertain your friends 
in the best manner that your means permit. This is the 
least you can do to recompense them for the expenditure 
of time and money which they incur in accepting your 
invitation. 

"To invite a friend to dinner," says Brillat Savarin, "is 
to become responsible for his happiness so long as he is. 
under your roof." 

A dinner, to be excellent, neea not consist of a great 
variety of dishes ; but everything should be of the best, and 
the cookery should be perfect. That which should be cool 
should be cool as ice ; that which should be hot should be 
smoking ; the attendance should be rapid and noiseless ; the 
guests well assorted ; the wines of the best quality ; the 
host attentive and courteous ; the room well lighted, and 
the time punctual. 

Every dinner should begin with soup, be followed by 
fish, and include some kind of game. " The soup is to the 
dinner," we are told by Grisnod de la Regniere, " what the 
portico is to a building, or the overture to an opera." 

To this aphorism we may be permitted to add that a 
chasse of cognac or curacoa at the close of a dinner is like 
the epilogue at the end of a comedy. 

Never reprove or give directions to your servants before 
guests. Ifadishis not placed precisely where you would 
have wished it to stand, or the order of a course is reversed, 
let the error pass unobserved by yourself and you may 
depend that it will be unnoticed by others. 

The duties of hostess at a dinner-party are not onerous ; 
but they demand tact and good breeding, grace of bearing, 
and self-possession of no ordinary degree. She does not 
often carve. She has no active duties to perform ; but she 
must neglect nothing, forget nothing, put all her guests at 
their ease, encourage the timid, draw out the silent, and pay 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 865 

every possible attention to the requirements of each and 
all around her. No accident must ruffle her temper. No 
disappointment must embarrass her. She must see her old 
china broken without a sigh, and her best glass shattered 
with a smile. 



Staying at a Friend's House— Breakfast, Luncheon, Etc. 



A visitor is bound by the laws of social intercourse to 
conform in alf respects to the habits of the house. In order 
to do this effectually, she should inquire, or cause her per- 
sonal servant to inquire, what those habits are. To keep 
your friend's breakfast on the table till a late hour ; to delay 
the dinner by want of punctuality ; to accept other invita- 
tions, and treat his house as if it were merely an hotel to be 
slept in ; or to keep the family up till unwonted hours, are 
alike evidences of a want of good feeling and good-breeding. 

At breakfast and lunch, absolute punctuality is not im- 
perative ; but a visitor should avoid being always the last 
to appear at table. 

No order of precedence is observed at either breakfast or 
luncheon. Persons take their seats as they come in, and, 
having exchanged their morning salutations, begin to eat 
without waiting for the rest of the party. 

If letters are delivered to you at breakfast or luncheon, 
you may read them by asking permission from the lady who 
presides at the urn. 

Always hold yourself at the disposal of those in whose 
house you are visiting. If they propose to ride, drive, 
walk, or otherwise occupy the day, you may take it for 
granted that these plans are made with reference to your 
enjoyment. You should, therefore, receive them with cheer- 
fulness, enter into them with alacrity, and do your best to 
seem pleased, and be pleased, by the efforts which your 
friends make to entertain you. 



866 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

You should never take a book from the Hbrary to your 
own room without requesting permission to borrow it. When 
it is lent, you should take every care that it sustains no 
injury while in your possession, and should cover it, if neces- 
sary. 

A guest should endeavor to amuse herself as much as 
possible, and not be continually dependent on her hosts for 
entertainment. She should remember that, however wel- 
come she may be, she is not always wanted. 

A visitor should avoid giving unnecessary trouble to the 
servants of the house. 

The signal for retiring to rest is generally given by the 
appearance of the servant with wine, water, and biscuits, 
where a late dinner hour is observed and suppers are not 
the custom. This is the last refreshment of the evening, 
and the visitor will do well to rise and wish good night 
shortly after it has been partaken of by the family. 



General Hints. 



Do not frequently repeat the name of the person with 
whom you are conversing. It implies either the extreme of 
hautctir or familiarity. 

Never speak of absent persons by only their Christian or 

surnames; but always as Mr. , or Mrs. . Above 

all, never name anybody by the first letter of his name. 
Married people are sometimes guilty of this flagrant offense 



asfamst taste 



Look at those who address you. 

Never boast of your birth, your money, your grand 
friends, or anything that is yours. If you have traveled, do 
not introduce that information into your conversation at 
every opportunity. Any one can travel with money and 
leisure. The real distinction is to come home with enlarged 
views, improved tastes, and a mind free from prejudice. 



DEPORTMENT AND SOCIETY. 867 

If you present a book to a friend, do not write his or her 
name in it unless requested. You have no right to presume 
that it will be rendered any the more valuable for that addi- 
tion ; and you ought not to conclude beforehand that your 
gift will be accepted. 

Never undervalue the gift which you are yourself 
offering ; you have no business to offer it if it is valueless. 
Neither say that you do not want it yourself, or that you 
should throw it away if it were not accepted, etc., etc. 
Such apologies would be insults if true, and mean nothing 
if false. 

No compliment that bears insincerity on the face of it is 
a compliment to all. 

Presents made by a married lady to a gentleman can 
only be offered in the joint names of her husband and her- 
self. 

Married ladies may occasionally accept presents from 
gentlemen who visit frequently at their houses, and who 
desire to show their sense of the hospitality which they 
receive there. 

Acknowledge the receipt of a present without delay. 

Give a foreigner his name in full, as Monsieur de Vigny 
— never as Monsieur only. In speaking of him, give him 
his title, if he has one. Foreign noblemen are addressed 
viva voce as Monsieur. In speaking of a foreign nobleman 
before his face, say Monsieur le Comte, or Monsieur le 
Marquis. In his absence, say Monsieur le Comte de 
Vigny. 

Converse with a foreigner in his own language. If not 
competent to do so, apologize, and beg permission to speak 
English. 

To get in and out of a carriage gracefully is a simple but 
important accomplishment. If there is but one step, and 
you are going to take the seat facing the horses, put your 
left foot on the step, and enter the carriage with your right, 
in such a manner as to drop at once into your seat. If you 



868 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER 

are about to sit with your back to the horses, reverse the 
process. As you step into the carriage, be careful to keep 
your back towards seat you are about to occupy, so as to 
avoid the awkwardness of turning when you are once in. 



GtIQUGTTG FGR GGnTGTWGn. 



Introductions. 



\,| yO introduce persons who are mutually unknown is to 
6-^ undertake a serious responsibility, and to certify to 
each the respectibility of the other. Never undertake this 
responsibility without in the first place asking yourself 
whether the person are likely to be agreeable to each other : 
nor, in the second place, without ascertaing whether it will 
be acceptable to both parties to become acquainted. 

Always introduce the gentleman to the lady — never the 
lady to the gentleman. The chivalry of etiquette assumes 
that the lady is invaribly the superior in right of her sex, and 
that the gentleman is honored by the introduction. 

Never present a gentleman to a lady without first asking 
her permission to do so. 

When you are introduced to a lady, never offer your 
hand. When introduced, persons limit their recognition of 
each other to a bow. 

Persons who have met at the house of a mutual friend 
without being introduced, should not bow if they afterwards 
meet elsewhere ; a bow implies acqcaintance, and persons 
who have not been introduced are not acquainted. 

If you are walking with one friend, and presently meet 
with, or are joined by, a second, do not commit the too fre- 
quent error of introducing them to each other. You have 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 869 

even less right to do so than if they encountered each other 
your house during a morning call. 

There are some exceptions to the etiquette of introduc- 
tions. At a ball or evening party, where there is dancing, 
the mistress of the house may introduce any gentleman to 
any lady without first asking the lady's permission. But 
she should first ascertain whether the lady is wiling to dance ; 
and this out of consideration for the gentleman, who may 
otherwise be refused. No man likes to be refused the hand 
of a lady, though it be only for a quadrille. 

A brother may present his sister, or a father his son, 
without any kind of preliminary ; but only when there is no 
inferiority on the part of his own family to that of the ac- 
quaintance. 

Friends may introduce friends at the house of a mutual 
acquaintance, but, as a rule, it is better to be introduced by 
the mistress of the house. Such an introduction carries 
more authority with it. 

Introductions at evening parties are now almost wholly 
dispensed with. Persons who meet at a friend's house are 
ostensibly upon an equality, and pay a bad compliment to 
the host by appearing suspicious and formal. Some old- 
fashioned country hosts yet persevere in introducing each 
newcomer to all the assembled guests. It is a custom that 
cannot be too soon abolished, and one that places the last 
unfortunate visitor in a singularly awkward position. All that 
he can do is to make a semi-circular bow, like a concert 
singer before an audience, and bear the general gaze with 
as much composure as possible. 

If, when you enter a drawing-room, your name has been 
wrongly announced, or has passed unheard in the buzz of 
conversation, make your way at once to the mistress of the 
house, if you are a stranger, and introduce yourself by name. 
This should be done with the greatest simplicity, and your 
professional or titular rank made as little of as possible. 

An introduction given at a ball for the mere purpose of 



870 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

conducting a lady through a dance does not give the gentle- 
man any right to bow to her on a future occasion. If he 
commits this error, he must remember that she is not bound 
to see or return his salutation. 



Letters of Introduction. 



Do NOT lightly give or promise letters of introduction. 
Always remember that when you give a letter of introduc- 
tion you lay yourself under an obligation to the friend to 
whom it is addressed. 

No one delivers a letter of introductioi in person. It 
places you in the most undignified position imaginable, and 
compels you to wait while it is being read, like a footman 
who has been told to wait for an answer. 

If, on the other hand, a stranger sends you a letter of in- 
troduction and his card, you are bound by the laws of polite- 
ness and hospitality, not only to call upon him the next day, 
but to follow up that attention with others. If you are in a 
position to do so, the most correct proceeding is to invite 
him to dine with you. Should this not be within your power, 
you have probably the entree to some private collections, 
club-houses, theatres, or reading-rooms, and could devote a 
few hours to showing him these places. 

A letter of introduction should be given unsealed, not 
alone because your friend may wish to know what you have 
said of him, but also as a guarantee of your own good faith. 
As you should never give such a letter unless you can speak 
highly of the bearer, this rule of etiquette is easy to observe. 
By requesting your friend to fasten the envelope before for- 
warding the letter to its destination you tacitly give him per- 
mission to inspect its contents. 

Let your note paper be of the best quality and proper 
size. 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 87I 



Visiting— Morning Calls— Cards. 



A MORNING visit should be paid between the hours of 2 
and 4 r. m. in winter, and 2 and 5 in summer. 

Visits of ceremony should be short. If even the conver- 
sation should have become animated, beWare of letting your 
call exceed half an hour's length. It is always better to 
let your friends regret rather than desire your withdrawal. 

On returning visits of ceremony you may, without impo- 
liteness, leave your card at the door without going in. Do 
not fail, however, to inquire if the family be well. 

Should there be daughters or sisters residing with the 
lady upon whom you call, you may turn down a corner of 
your card, to signify that the visit is paid to all. It is in 
better taste, however, to leave cards for each. 

Unless when returning thanks for " kind inquiries," or 
announcing your arrival in, or departure from, town, it is 
not considered respectful to send cards round by a servant. 

Leave-taking cards have P. P. C. {pour prendre conge) 
written in the corner. Some use P. D. A. (^pour dire 
adicti). 

The visiting cards of gentlemen are half the size of those 
used by ladies. 

Visits of condolence are paid within the week after the 
event which occasions them. Personal visits of this kind 
are made by relations and very intimate friends only. 
Acquaintances should leave cards with narrow mourning 
borders. 

On the first occasion when you a^e received by the 
family after the death of one of the members, it is etiquette 
to wear slight mourning. 

When a gentlemen makes a morning call, he should 
never leave his hat or riding-whip in the hall, but should 
take both into the room. To do otherwise would be to make 
himself too much at home. The hat, however, must never 



872 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

be laid on a table, piano, or any article of furniture; 
it should be held gracefully in the hand. If you are com- 
pelled to lay it aside, put it on the floor. 

Umbrellas should invariably be left in the hall. 

Never take favorite dogs into a drawing-room when you 
make a morning call. Their feet may be dusty, or they 
may bark at the sight of strangers, or, being of too friendly 
a disposition, may take the liberty of lying on a lady's 
gown, or jumping on the sofas and easy chairs. Where your 
friend has a favorite cat already established before the fire, 
a battle may ensue, and one or both of the pets be seriously 
hurt. Besides many persons have a constitutional antipathy 
to dogs, and others never allow their own to be seen in the 
sitting-rooms. For all or any of these reasons a visitor has 
no right to inflict upon his friend the society of his dog as 
well as of himself. 

If, when you call upon a lady, you meet a lady 
visitor in her drawing-room, you should rise when that lady 
takes her leave. 

If other visitors are announced, and you have already 
remained as long as courtesy requires, wait till they are 
seated and then rise from your chair, take leave of your 
hostess, and bow politely to the newly arrived guests. You 
will, perhaps, be urged to remain, but having once risen, it 
is always best to go. There is always a certain air of 
gaucherie in resuming your seat and repeating the ceremony 
of leave-taking. 

If you have occasion to look at your watch during a call, 
ask permission to do so, and apologize for it on the plea of 
other appointments 

Conversation. 



Let your conversation be adapted as skillfully as may be 
to your company. Some men make a point of talking com- 
mon-places to all ladies alike, as if a woman could only be a 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 873 

triflers. Others, on the contrary, seem to forget in what 
respects the education of a lady differs from that of a gentle- 
man, and commit the opposite error of conversing on topics 
with which ladies are seldom acquainted. A woman of sense 
has as much right to be annoyed by the one, as a lady of 
ordinary education by the other. You cannot pay a finer 
compliment to a woman of refinement and esprit than by 
leading the conversation into such a channel as may mark 
your appreciation of her superior attainments. 

In talking with ladies of ordinary education, avoid polit- 
ical, scientific, or commercial topics, and choose only such 
subjects as are likely to be of interest to them. 

Remember that. people take more interest in their own 
affairs than in anything else which you can name. If you 
wish your conversation to be thoroughtly agreeable, lead a 
mother to talk of her children, a young lady of her last ball, 
an author of his forthcoming book, or an artist of his exhi- 
bition picture. Having furnished the topic, you need only 
listen ; and you are sure to be thought not only agreeable, 
but thoroughly sensible and well-informed. 

Be careful, however, on the other hand, not always to 
make a point of talking to persons upon general matters 
relating to their profession. To show an interest in their 
immediate concerns is flattering ; but to converse with them 
too much about their own arts looks as if you thought them 
ignorant of other topics. 

Do not use a classical quotation in the presence of ladies 
without apologizing for, or translating it. Even this should 
only be done when no other phrase would so aptly express 
your meaning. Whether in the presence of ladies or gentle- 
men, much display of learning is pedantic and out of place. 

There is a certain distinct, but subdued tone of voice 
which is peculiar to only well-bred persons. A loud voice 
is both disagreeable and vulgar. It is better to err by the 
use of too low rather than too loud a tone. 

Remember that all " slang " is vulgar. 



874 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Do not pun. Puns, unless they rise to the rank of wit- 
ticisms, are to be scrupulously avoided. 

Long arguments in general company, however enter- 
taining to the disputants, are tiresome to the last degree to 
all others. You should always endeavor to prevent the 
conversation from dwelling too long upon one topic. 

Religion is a topic which should never be introduced in 
society. It is the one subject on which persons are most 
likely to differ, and least able to preserve temper. 

Never interrupt a person who is speaking. 

To listen well is almost as great an art as to talk well. 
It is not enough only to listen. You must endeavor to 
seem interested in the conversation of others. 

It is considered extremely ill-bred when two persons 
whisper in society, or converse in a language with which 
all present are not familiar. If you have private matters to 
discuss, you should appoint a proper time and place to do 
so, without paying others the ill compliment of excluding 
them from your conversation. 

If a foreigner be one of the guests at a small party, and 
does not understand English sufficiently to follow what is 
said, good-breeding demands that the conversation shall be 
carried on in his own language. If at a dinner-party, the 
same rule applies to those at his end of the table. 

If, upon the entrance of a visitor, you carry on the thread 
of a previous conversation, you should briefly recapitulate 
to him what has been said before he arrived. 

Always look, but never stare, at those with whom you 
converse. 

In order to meet the general needs of conversation in 
society, it is necessary that a man should be well acquainted 
with the current news and historical events of at least, the 
last few years. 

Never talk upon subjects of which you know nothing, 
unless it be for the purpose of acquiring information. Many 
young men imagine that because they frequent exhibitions 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 875 

and operas they are qualified judges of art. No mistake is 
more egregious or universal. 

Those who introduce anecdotes into their conversation 
are warned that these should invariably be "short, witty, 
eloquent, new, and not far-fetched." 

Scandal is the least excusable of all conversational 
vulgarities. 

In conversing with a man of rank, do not too frequently 
give him his title. 



The Promenade. 



A WELL-BRED man must entertain no respect for the brim 
of his hat. " A bow," says La Fontaine, " is a note drawn 
at sight." You are bound to acknowledge it immediately, 
and to the full amount. True politeness demands that the 
hat should be quite lifted from the head. 

On meet friends with whom you are likely to shake 
hands, remove your hat with the left hand in order to leave 
the righ hand free. 

If you meet a lady in the street whom you are sufficiently 
intimate to address, do not stop her, but turn round and walk 
beside her in whichever direction she is going. When you 
have said all that you wish to say, you can take your leave. 

If you meet a lady with whom you are not particularly 
well acquainted, wait for her recognition before you venture 
to bow to her. 

In bowing to a lady whom you are not going to address, 
lift your hat with that hand which is farthiest from her. For 
instance, if you pass her on the right side, use your left hand ; 
if on the left, use your right. 

If you are on horseback and wish to converse with a lady 
who is on foot, you must dismount and lead your horse, so 
as not to give her the fatigue of looking up to your level. 
Neither should you subject her to the impropriety of carrying 



876 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

on a conversation in a tone necessarily louder than is 
sanctioned in public by the laws of good breeding. 

When you meet friends or acquaintances in the streets, 
at the exhibitions, or any public places, take care not to pro- 
nounce their names so loudly as to attract the attention of 
the passers-by. Never call across the street ; and never 
carry on a dialogue in a public vehicle, unless your inter- 
locutor occupies the seat beside your own. 

In walking with a lady, take charge of any small parcel, 
parasol, or book with which she may be encumbered. 

Dress. 

A GENTLEMAN should always be so well dressed that his 
dress shall never be observed at all. Does this sound like 
an enigma? It is not meant for one. It only implies that 
perfect simplicity is perfect elegance, and that the true test 
of taste in the toilet of a gentleman is its entire harmony, 
unobtrusiveness and becomingness. If any friend should 
say to you, "What a handsome waistcoat you have on!" 
you may depend that a less handsome waistcoat would be in 
better taste. If you hear it said that Mr. So-and-So wears 
superb jewelry, you may conclude beforehand that he wears 
too much. Display, in short, is ever to be avoided, especially 
in matters of dress. The toilet is the domain of the fair 
sex. Let a wise man leave its graces and luxuries to his 
wife, daughters, or sisters, and seek to be himself appreciated 
for something of higher worth than the stud in his shirt or 
the trinkets on his chain. 

To be too much in the fashion is as vulgar as to be too 
far behind it. No really well-bred man follows every new 
cut that he sees in his trailor's fashion book. 

In the morning wear frock coats, double-breasted waist- 
coats, and trousers of light or dark colors, according to the 
season. 

In the evening, though only in the bosom of your own 



F.TIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 877 

family, wear only black, and be as scrupulous to put on a 
dress coat as if you expected visitors. If you have sons, 
bring them up to do the same. It is the observance of these 
minor trifles in domestic etiquette which marks the true 
gentleman. 

For evening parties, dinner parties, and balls, wear a 
black dress coat, black trousers, black silk or cloth waist- 
coat, white cravat, white or gray kid gloves, and thin patent 
leather boots. A black cravat may be worn in full dress, but 
is not so elegant as a white one. 

Let your jewelry be of the best, but the least gaudy 
description, and wear it very sparingly. A single stud, a 
gold watch and guard, and one handsome ring, are as many 
ornaments as a gentleman can wear with propriety. 

It is well to remember in the choice of jewelry that mere 
costliness is not always the test of value ; and that an exqui- 
site work of art, such as a fine cameo, or a natural rarity, 
such as a black pearl, is a more distingtie possession than a 
large brilliant, which any rich and tasteless vulgarian can buy 
as easily as yourself. For a ring, the gentleman of fine 
taste would prefer a precious antique intaglio to the hand- 
somest diamond or ruby that could be bought at Tiffany's. 

Of all precious stones, the opal is one of the most lovely 
and the least common-place. No vulgar man purchases an 
opal. He invariably prefers the more showy diamond, ruby, 
sapphire, or emerald. 

Unless you are a snufif-taker, never carry any but a 
white pocket-handkerchief 

If in the morning you wear a long cravat fastened by a 
pin, be careful to avoid what may be called alliteration ot 
color. We have seen a turquois pin worn in a violet-col- 
ored cravat, and the effect was frightful. Choose, if pos- 
sible, complementary colors, and their secondaries. For 
instance, if the stone in your pin be a turquois, wear it with 
brown, or crimson mixed with black, or black and orange. 
If a ruby, contrast it with shades of green. The same rule 



878 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

holds good with regard to the mixture and contrast of col- 
ors in your waistcoat and cravat. Thus, a buff waistcoat 
and a blue tie, or brown and blue, or brown and green, or 
brown and magenta, green and magenta, green and mauve, 
are all good arrangements of color. 

Colored shirts may be worn in the morning ; but they 
should be small in pattern and quiet in color. 

In these days of public baths and universal progress, 
we trust that it is unnecessary to do more than hint at the 
necessity of the most fastidious personal cleanliness. The 
hair, the teeth, the nails, should be faultlessly kept ; and a 
soiled shirt, a dingy pocket-handkerchief, or a light waist- 
coat that has been worn once too often, are things to be 
scrupulously avoided by any man who is ambitious of pre- 
serving the exterior of a gentleman. 

Morning and Evening Parties. 

Elegant morning dress, general good manners, and some 
acquaintance with the topics of the day and the games 
above named, are all the qualifications especially necessary 
to a gentleman at a morning party. 

An evening party begins about nine o'clock p. m., and 
ends about midnight, or somewhat later. Good-breeding 
neither demands that you should present yourself at the 
commencement, nor remain till the close of the evening. 
You come and go as may be most convenient to you, and 
by these means are at liberty, during the height of the 
season when evening parties are numerous, to present your- 
self at two or three houses during a single evening. 

At very large and fashionable receptions, the hostess is 
generally to be found near the door. Should you, how- 
ever, find yourselves separated by a dense crowd of guests^ 
you are at liberty to recognize those who are near you, and 
those whom you encounter as you make your way through 
the throng. 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 879 

If you are at the house of a new acquaintance and find 
yourself among entire strangers, remember that by so meet- 
mg under one roof you are all in a certain sense made 
known to one another, and should therefore converse freely, 
as equals. To shrink away to a side table and affect to 
be absorbed in some album or illustrated work ; or, if you 
find one unlucky acquaintance in the room, to fasten upon 
him like a drowning man clinging to a spar, 2iX ft gaudier ies 
which no shyness can excuse. An easy and unembarrassed 
manner, and the self-possession requisite to open a conver- 
sation with those who happen to be near you, are the indis- 
pensable credentials of a well-bred man. 

At an evening party, do not remain too long in one spot. 
To be afraid to move from one drawing room to another is 
the sure sign of a neophyte in society. 

If you have occasion to use your handkerchief, do so as 
noiselessly as possible. To blow your nose as if it were a 
trombone, ar to turn your head aside when using your hand- 
kerchief, are vulgarities scrupulously to be avoided. 

Never stand upon the hearth with your |back to the fire 
or stove, either in a friend's house or your own. 

■ Never offer any one the chair from which you have just 
risen, unless there be no other disengaged. 

If, when supper is announced, no lady has been specially 
placed under your care by the hostess, offer your arm to 
whichever lady you may have last conversed with. 

If you possess any musical accomplishments, do not wait 
to be pressed and entreated by your hostess, but comply im- 
mediately when she pays you the compliment of inviting you 
to play or sing. Remember, however, that only the lady of 
the house has the right to ask you. If others do, you can 
put them off in some polite way ; but must not comply till 
the hostess herself invites you. 

If you sing comic songs, be careful that they are of the 
most unexceptionable kind, and likely to offend neither the 
tastes nor prejudices of the society in which you find your- 
self. 



88o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

If the party be of a small and social kind, and those 
games called by the French les jeiix imioccnts are proposed, 
do not object to join in them when invited. It may be that 
they demand some slight exercise of wit and readiness, and 
that you do not feel yourself calculated to shine in them ; but 
it is better to seem dull than disagreeable, and those who 
are obliging can always find some clever neighbor to assist 
them in the moment of need. The game of " consequences " 
is one which unfortunately gives too much scope to liberty of 
expression. If you join in this game, we cannot too earn- 
estly enjoin you never to write down one word which the 
most pure-minded woman present might not read aloud 
without a blush. Jests of an equivocal character are not only 
vulgar, but contemptible. 

Improptu charades are frequently organized at friendly 
parties. Unless you have really some talent for acting and 
some readiness of speech, you should remember that you 
only put others out and expose your own inability by taking 
part in these entertainments. Of course, if your help is 
really needed and you would disoblige by refusing, you must 
do your best, and by doing it as quietly and coolly as possi- 
ble, avoid being awkward or ridiculous. 

Should an impromptu polka or quadrille be got up after 
supper at a party where no dancing was intended, be sure 
not to omit putting on gloves before you stand up. It is well 
always to have a pair of white gloves in your pocket in case 
of need ; but even black are better under these circum- 
stances than none. 

Even though you may take no pleasure in cards, some 
knowledge of the etiquette and rules belonging to the games 
most in vogue is necessary to you in society. 

Never let even politeness induce you to play for high 
stakes. Etiquette is the minor morality of life ; but it never 
should be allowed to outweigh the higher code of right and 
wrong. 

Be scrupulous to observe silence when any of the company 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 88 1 

are playing or singing. Remember that they are doing this 
for the amusement of the rest ; and that to talk at such a time 
is as ill-bred as if you were to turn your back upon a person 
who was talking to you and begin a conversation with some 
one else. 

If you are yourself the performer, bear in mind that in 
music, as in speech, "brevity is the soul of wit." Two verses 
of a song, or four pages of a piece, are at all times enough to 
give pleasure. If your audience desire more they will ask for 
it ; and it is infinitely more flattering to be encored than to 
receive the thanks of your hearers, not so much in gratitude 
for what you have given them, but in relief that you have left 
off. You should try to suit your music, like your conversa- 
tion, to your company. A solo of Beethoven's would be as 
much out of place in some circles as a comic song at a 
Quakers' meeting. To those who only care for the light 
popularities of the season, give Verdi. To connoisseurs, if 
you perform well enough to venture, give such music as will 
be likely to meet the exigencies of a fine taste. Above all, 
attempt nothing that you cannot execute with ease and pre- 
cision. 

In retiring from a crowded party it is unnecessary that you 
should seek out the hostess for the purpose of bidding her a 
formal good-night. By doing this you would, perhaps, remind 
others that it was getting late, and cause the party to break 
up. If you meet the lady of the house on your way to the 
drawing-room door, take your leave of her as unobtrusively 
as possible, and slip away without attracting the attention of 
her other guests. 



The Dinner Table. 



To be acquainted with every detail of the etiquette per- 
taining to this subject is of the highest importance to every 
gentleman. Ease, savoir /aire, and good-breeding are 



S6 



882 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

nowhere more indispensable than at the dinner-table, and the 
absence of them is nowhere more apparent. 

An invitation to dine should be replied to immediately, and 
unequivocally accepted or declined. Once accepted, nothing 
but an event of the last importance should cause vou to fail 
in your engagement. 

To be exactly punctual is the strictest politeness on 
these occasions. If you are too early, you are in the way; 
if too late, you spoil the dinner, annoy the hostess, and are 
hated by the rest of the guests. Some authorities are even 
of opinion that in the question of a dinner-party "never" 
is better than "late;" and one author has gone so far as 
to say, "if you do not reach the house till dinner is served, 
you had better retire to a restaurater's, and thence send 
an apology, and not interrupt the harmony of the courses 
by awkward excuses and cold acceptance." 

When the party is assembled, the mistress or master of 
the house will point out to each gentleman the lady whom 
he is to conduct to table. If she be a stranger, you had 
better seek an introduction ; if a previous acquaintance, 
take care to be near her when the dinner is announced ; 
offer your arm, and go down according to precedence. 
This order of precedence must be arranged by the host or 
hostess. 

When dinner is announced, the host offers his arm to the 
lady of most distinction, invites the rest to follow by a few 
words or a bow, and leads the way. The lady of the house 
should then follow with the gentleman who is most entitled 
that honor, and the visitors follow in the order that the master 
of the house has previously arranged. The lady of the house 
frequently remains, however, till the last, that she may see 
her guests go down in their prescribed order ; but the plan 
is not a convenient one. It is much better that the hostess 
should be in her place as the guests enter the dining-room, 
in order that she may indicate their seats to them as they 
come in, and not find them all crowded together in uncer- 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 883 

tainty when she arrives. If cards with names are on the 
table, seek that of the lady whom you have taken to dinner. 
The number of guests at a dinner-party should always be 
determined by the size of the table. When the party is too 
small, conversation flags, and a general air of desolation 
pervades the table. When they are too many, every one is 
inconvenienced. A space of two feet should be allowed to 
each person. It is well to arrange a party in such wise that 
the number of ladies and gentlemen be equal. 

The lady of the house takes the head of the table. The 
gentleman who led her to dinner occupies the seat on her 
right hand, and the gentleman next in order of precedence 
that on her left. The master of the house takes the foot 
of the table. The lady whom he escorted sits on his right 
hand, and the lady next in order of precedence on his left. 

The gentlemen who support the lady of the house should 
offer to relieve her of the duties of hostess. Many ladies 
are well pleased thus to delegate the difficulties of carving, 
and all gentlemen who accept invitations to dinner should be 
prepared to render such assistance when called upon. To 
offer to carve a dish, and then perform the office unskillfully, 
is an unpardonable gaitcherie. Every gentleman should 
carve, and carve well. 

As soon as you are seated at table, remove your gloves, 
place your table napkins across your knees, and remove the 
roll which you find probably within it to the left side of your 
plate. 

The soup should be placed on the table first. 

In eating soup, remember always to take it from the side 
of the spoon, and to make no sound in doing so. 

If the servants do not go round with wine the gentlemen 
should help the ladies and themselves to sherry or sauterne 
immediately after the soup. 

You should never ask for a second supply of either soup 
or fish ; it delays the next course and keeps the table wait- 
ing. 



884 The practical home farmer. 

Never offer to "assist" your neighbors to this or that 
dish. The word is inexpressibly vulgar — all the more vul- 
gar for its affectation of elegance. "Shall I send you some 
mutton ?" or " may I help you to canvas-back ?" is better 
chosen and better bred. 

If you are asked to take wine, it is polite to select the 
same as that which your interlocutor is drinking. If you 
invite a lady to take wine, you should ask her which she will 
prefer, and then take the same yourself Should you, how- 
ever, for any reason prefer some other vintage, you can 
take it by courteously requesting her permission. 

As soon as you are helped, begin to eat ; or, if the vianos 
are too hot for your palate, take up your knife and fork and 
appear to begin. To wait for others is now not only old- 
fashioned, but ill-bred. 

Never offer to pass on the plate to which you have been 
helped. 

In helping soup, fish, or any other dish, remember that 
to overfill a plate is as bad as to supply it too scantily. 

Silver fish-knives will now always be met with at the 
best tables ; but where there are none, a piece of crust 
should be taken in the left hand, and the fork in the right. 
There is no exception to this rule in eating fish. 

We presume it is scarcely necessary to remind the reaoer 
that he is never, under any circumstances, to convey his knife 
to his mouth. Peas are eaten with the fork ; tarts, curry, 
and puddings of all kinds with the spoon. 

Always help fish with a fish-slice, and tart and puddings 
with a spoon, or, if necessary a spoon and fork. 

Asparagus must be helped with the asparagus-tongs. 

In eating asparagus, it is well to observe what others do, 
and act accordingly. Some very well-bred people eat it with 
the fingers ; others cut off the heads, and convey them to 
the mouth upon the fork. It would be difficult to say which 
is the more correct. 

In eating stone fruit, such as cherries, damsons, etc., the 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 88 5 

« 

same rule had better be observed. Some put the stones out 
from the mouth into a spoon, and so convey them to the 
plate. Others cover the lips with the hand, drop them unseen 
into the palm, and so deposit them on the side of the plate. 
In our own opinion, the latter is the better way, as it effect- 
ually conceals the return of the stones, which is certainly the 
point of highest importance. Of one thing we may be sure, 
and that is, that they must never be dropped from the mouth 
to the plate. 

In helping sauce, always pour it on the side of the 
plate. 

If the servants do not go round with the wine (which is 
by far the best custom), the gentlemen at a dinner table 
should take upon themselves the office of helping those 
ladies who sit near them. Ladles take more wine in the 
present day than they did fifty years ago, and gentlemen 
should remember this, and offer it frequently. Ladies can- 
not very well ask for wine, but they can always decline it. 
At all events they do not like to be neglected, or to see 
gentlemen liberally helping themselves, without observing 
whether their fair neighbors' glasses are full or empty. 

The habit of taking wine with each other has almost 
wholly gone out of fashion. A gentleman may ask the lady 
whom he conducted down to dinner, or he may ask the lady 
of the house to take wine with him. But even these last 
remnants of the old custom are fast falling into disuse. 

Unless you are a total abstainer, it is extremely uncivil 
to decline taking wine if you are invited to do so. In accept- 
ing, you have only to pour a little fresh wine into your glass, 
look at the person who invited you, bow slightly, and take a 
sip from the glass. 

It is particularly ill-bred to empty your glass on these 
occasions. 

Certain wines are taken with certain dishes, by old- 
established custom — as sherry or sauterne, with soup and 
fish ; hock and claret, with roast meat ; punch, with turtle ; 



886 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

champagne, with sweet-bread and cutlets ; port, with veni- 
son ; port or burgundy, with game ; sparkling wines, be- 
tween the roast and the confectionery; madeira, with sweets ; 
port, with cheese ; and for dessert, port, tokay, madeira, 
sherry and claret. Red wines should never be iced, even in 
summer. Claret and burgundy should always be slightly 
warmed ; claret-cup and champagne-cup should, of course, 
be iced. 

Instead of cooling their wines in the ice-pail, some hosts 
introduce clear ice upon the table, broken up in small lumps, 
to be put inside the glasses. This cannot be too strongly 
reprehended. Melted ice can but weaken the quality and 
flavor of the wine. Those who desire to drink zvine and 
water can ask for iced water, if they choose, but it savors 
too much of economy on the part of the host to insinuate 
the ice inside the glasses of his guests, when the wine could 
be more effectually iced outside the bottle. 

A silver knife and fork should be placed to each guest at 
dessert. 

If you are asked to prepare fruit for a lady, be careful to 
do so by means of the silver knife and fork only, and never 
to touch it with your fingers. 

It is wise never to partake of any dish without knowing 
of what ingredients it is composed. You can always ask 
the servant who hands it to you, and you thereby avoid all 
danger of having to commit the impoliteness of leaving it, 
and showing that you do not approve of it. 

Never speak while you have anything in your mouth. 

Be careful never to taste soups or puddings till you are 
sure they are sufficiently cool ; as, by disregarding this cau- 
tion, you may be compelled to swallow whut is dangerously 
hot, or be driven to the unpardonable alternative of return- 
ing it to your plate. 

When eating or drinking, avoid every kind of audible 
testimony to the fact. 

Finger-glasses, containing water slightly warmed and 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 88/ 

perfumed, are placed to each person at desert. In these 
you may dip the tips of your fingers, wiping them after- 
wards on your table-napkin. If the finger-glass and 
doyley are placed on your dessert-plate, you should imme- 
diately remove the doyley to the left of your plate, and 
place the finger-glass upon it. By these means you leave 
the right for the wine-glasses. 

Be careful to know the shapes of the various kinds of 
wine-glasses commonly in use, in order that you may never 
put forward one for another. High and narrow, and very 
broad and shallow glasses, are used for champagne ; large, 
goblet-shaped glasses for burgundy and claret; ordinary 
wine-glasses for sherry and madeira ; green glasses for 
hock ; and somewhat large, bell-shaped glasses for port. 

Port, sherry, and madeira are decanted. Hock and 
champagnes appear in their native bottles. Claret and 
burgundy are handed around in a claret jug. 

Coffee and liquors should be handed round when the 
desert has been about a quarter of an hour on the table. 
After this, the ladies generally retire. 

Should no servant be present to do so, the gentleman 
who is nearest the door should hold it for the ladies to pass 
through. 

When the ladies are leaving the dining-room, the gen- 
tlemen all rise in their places, and do not resume their 
seats till the last lady is gone. 

If you should unfortunately overturn or break anything, 
do not apologize for it. You can show your regret in your 
face, but it is not well-bred to put it into words. 

Should you injure a lady's dress, apologize amply, and 
assist her, if possible, to remove all traces of the damage. 

To abstain from taking the last piece on the dish, or the 
last glass of wine in the decanter, only because it is the last, 
is highly ill-bred. It implies a fear that the vacancy cannot 
be supplied, and almost conveys an affront to your host. 

In summing up the litde duties and laws of the table, a 



888 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

popular author has said that — " The chief matter of consid- 
eration at the dinner-table — as, indeed, everywhere else in 
the life of a gentleman — is to be perfectly composed and at 
his ease. He speaks deliberately ; he performs the most 
important act of the day as if he were performing the most 
ordinary. Yet there is no appearance of trifling or want of 
gravity in his manner ; he maintains the dignity which is so 
becoming on so vital an occasion. He performs all the cere- 
monies, yet in the style of one who performs no ceremonies 
at all. He goes through all the complicated duties of the 
scene as if he were ' to the manner born.' " 

To the giver of a dinner we have but one or two remarks 
to offer. If he be a bachelor, he had better give his dinner 
at a good hotel. If a married man, he will, we presume, 
enter into council with his wife and his cook. In any case, 
however, he should always bear in mind that it is his duty 
to entertain his friends in the best manner that his means 
permit ; and that this is the least he can do to recompense 
them for the expenditure of time and money which they incur 
in accepting his invitation. 

In conclusion, we may observe that to sit long in the 
dining-room after the ladies have retired is to pay a bad 
compliment to the hostess and her fair visitors ; and that it 
is still worse to rejoin them with a flushed face and impaired 
powers of thought. A refined gentleman is always tem- 
perate. 



Party and IJaU-Room etiquette. 



How to Organize a Dancing Party or Ball. 

^XVS the number of guests at a dinner-party is regulated by 
«^^ the the size of the table, so should the number of invi- 
tations to a ball be limited by the proportions of the dancing 
or ball-room. A prudent hostess will always invite a few 
more guests than she really desires to entertain, in the 
certainty that there will be some deserters when the appointed 
evening comes round ; but she will at the same time remember 
that to overcrowd her room is to spoil the pleasure of those 
who love dancing, and that a party of this kind, when too 
numerously attended, is as great a failure as one at which 
too few are present. 

A room which is nearly square, yet a little longer than it 
is broad, will be found the most favorable for a ball. It 
admits of two quadrille parties, or two round dances at the 
same time. In a perfectly square room this arrangement is 
not so practicable or pleasant. A very long and narrow 
room, and their number in this country is legend, is obviously 
of the worst shape of dancing, and is fit only for quadrilles 
and country dances. 

The top of the ball-room is the part nearest the musicians. 
In a private room, the top is where it would be if the room 
were a dining-room. It is generally at the farthest point 
from the door. Dancers should be careful to ascertain the 
top of the room before taking their places, as the top couples 
always lead the dances. 

A good floor is of the first importance in a ball-room. In 
a private house, nothing can be better than a smooth, well- 
stretched holland, with the carpet beneath. 

889 



Sgo THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Abundance of light and free ventilation are indispensable 
to the spirits and comfort of the dancers. 

Good music is as necessary to the prosperity of a ball as 
eood wine to the excellence of a dinner. No hostess should 

o 

tax her friends for this part of the entertainment. It is the 
most injurious economy imaginable. Ladies who would pre- 
fer to dance are tied to the pianoforte ; and so few amateurs 
have been trained in the art of playing dance music, with that 
strict attention to time and accent which is absolutely neces- 
sary to the comfort of the dancers, a total and general discon- 
tent is sure to be the result. To play dance music thoroughly 
well is a branch of the art which requires considerable prac- 
tice. It is as different from every other kind of playing as 
whale fishing is from fly fishing. Those who give private 
balls will do well ever to bear this in mind, and to provide 
skilled musicians for the evening. For a small party, a piano 
and cornopean make a very pleasant combination. Unless 
where several instruments are engaged we do not recommend 
the introduction of the violin ; although in some respects the 
finest of all solo instruments, it is apt to sound thin and shrill 
when employed on mere inexpressive dance tunes, and played 
by a mere dance player. 

Invitations to a ball or dance should be issued in the name 
of the lady of the house, and written on small note-paper of 
the best quality. Elegant printed forms, some of them printed 
in gold or silver, are to be had at every stationer's by those 
who prefer them. The paper may be gilt-edged, but not 
colored. 

An invitation to a ball should be sent out at least ten 
days before the evening appointed. A fortnight, three 
weeks, and even a month may be allowed in the way of 
notice. 

Not more than two or three days should be permitted to 
elapse before you reply to an invitation of this kind. The 
reply should always be addressed to the lady of the house, 
and should be couched in the same person as the invitation. 
The following are the forms generally in use : — 



PARTY AND BALL-ROOM ETIQUETTE. 89 1 

Mrs. Molyneux requests the honor of Captain Hamilton's com- 
pany at an evening party, on Monday, March the iith instant 

Dancing will begin at Nine o'clock. 

Thursday, March 1st. 



Captain Hamilton has much pleasure in accepting Mrs. Moly- 
neux's polite invitation for Monday evening, March the i ith instant. 

Friday, March 2d. 

The old form of "presenting compliments" is now out of 
fashion. 

If Mrs. Molyneux writes to Captain Hamilton in the first 
person, as " My dear Sir," he is bound in etiquette to reply 
" My dear Madam." 

The lady who gives a ball * should endeavor to secure 
an equal number of dancers of both sexes. Many private 
parties are spoiled by the preponderance of young ladies, 
some of whom never get partners at all, unless they dance 
with each other. 

A room should in all cases be provided for the accommo- 
dation of the ladies. In this room there ought to be several 
looking-glasses ; attendants to assist the fair visitors in the 
arrangement of their hair and dress ; and some place in which 
the cloaks and shawls can be laid in order, and found at a 
moment's notice. It is well to affix tickets to the cloaks, 
giving a duplicate at the same time to each lady, as at the 
public theatres and concert rooms. Needles and thread 
should also be at hand, to repair any little accident incurred 
in dancing. 

Another room should be devoted to refreshments, and 
kept amply supplied with coffee, lemonade, ices, wine, and 
biscuits during the evening. Where this cannot be arranged, 
the refreshments should be handed round between the 
dances. 

The question of supper is one which so entirely depends 
on the means of those who give a ball or evening party, 

• It will be understood that we use the word " ball " to signify a private party where there is dancing 
as well as a puplic ball. 



892 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

that very little can be said upon it in a treatise of this des- 
cription. Where money is no object, it is of course always 
preferable to have the whole supper, " with all appliances 
and means to boot," sent in from some first-rite house. It 
spare all trouble, whether to the entertainers or their serv- 
ants, and relieves the hostess of every anxiety. Where 
circumstances render such a course imprudent, we would 
olny observe that a home-provided supper, however simple, 
should be good of its kind, and abundant in quantity. 
Dancers are generally hungry people, and feel themselves 
much aggrieved if the supply of sandwiches oroves unequel 
to the demand. 

Bail-Room Toilette for Ladies. 



The style of a lady's dress is a matter so entirely 
dependent on age, means, and fashion, that we can offer but 
litde advice upon it. Fashion is so variable, that statments 
which are true of it to-day may be false a month hence. 
Respecting no institution of modern society is it so difficult 
to pronounce half-a-dozen permanent rules. 

We may perhaps be permitted to suggested the following 
leading principles ; but we do so with diffidence. Rich 
colors harmonize with rich brunette complexions and dark 
hair. Delicate colors are the most suitable for delicate and 
fragile styles of beauty. Very young ladies are never so 
suitably attired as in white. Ladies who dance should wear 
dreasses of light and diaphanous materials, such as tulle, 
gauze, crape, net, etc., over colored silk slips. Silk dresses 
are not suitable for dancing. A married lady who dances 
only a few quadrilles may wear a decollettee silk dress with 
propriety. 

Very stout persons should never wear white. It has the 
effect of adding to the bulk of the figure. 

Black and scarlet or black and violet are worn in mourn- 
ing. 



PARTY AND BALL-ROOM ETIQUETTE. 893 

A lady in deep mourning should not dance at all. 

However fashionable it may be to wear very long dresses, 
those ladies who go to a ball with the intention of dancing 
and enjoying the dance, should cause their dresses to be 
made short enough to clear the ground. We would ask 
them whether it is not better to accept this slight deviation 
from an absurd fashion, than to appear for three parts of the 
evening in a torn and pinned-up skirt. 

Well-made shoes, whatever their color or material, and 
faultless gloves, are indispensable to the effect of a ball-room 
toilette. 

Much jewelry is out of place in a ball-room. Beautiful 
flowers, whether natural or artificial, are the loveliest orna- 
ments that a lady can wear on these occasions. 

Ball-Room Toilette for Gentlemen. 



A BLACK suit, thin enameled boots, a white neckcloth, and 
white or delicate gray gloves, are the chief points of a gen- 
tleman's ball-room toilette. He may wear a plain-bosomed 
skirt with one stud. White waistcoats are now fashionable. 
Much display of jewelry is no proof of good taste. A hand- 
some watch-chain with, perhaps, the addition of a few costly 
trifles suspended to it, and a simple shirt stud, are the only 
adornments of this kind that a gentleman should wear. 

A gentleman's dress is necessarily so simple that it 
admits of no compromise in point of quality and style. The 
material should be the best that money can procure, and the 
fashion unexceptionable. So much of the outward man 
depends on his tailor, that we would urge no gentleman to 
economize in this matter. 

Etiquette of the Ball-Room. 



On entering the ball-room, the visitor should at once 
seek the lady of the house, and pay his respects to her. 



894 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Having done this, he may exchange salutations with such 
friends and acquaintances as may be in the room. 

If the ball be a public one, and a gentleman desires to 
dance with any lady to whom he is a stranger, he must 
apply to a member of the floor committee for an introduc- 
tion. 

Even in private balls, no gentleman can invite a lady to 
dance without a previous introduction. This introduction 
should be effected through the lady of the house or a mem- 
ber of her family. 

No lady should accept an invitation to dance from a 
gentleman to whom she has not been introduced. In case 
any gentleman should commit the error of so inviting her, 
she should not excuse herself on the plea of a previous en- 
gagement or of fatigue, as to do so would imply that she did 
not herself attach due importance to the necessary ceremony 
of introduction. Her best reply would be to the effect that 
she would have much pleasure in accepting his invitation if 
he would procure an introduction to her. This observation 
may be taken as applying only to public balls. At a private 
party the host and hostess are sufficient guarantees for the 
respectability of their guests ; and although a gentleman 
would show a singular want of knowledge of the laws of 
society in acting as we have supposed, the lady who should 
reply to him as if he were merely an impertinent stranger in 
a public assembly-room would be implying an affront to her 
entertainers. The mere fact of being assembled together 
under the roof of a mutual friend, is in itself a kind of gen- 
eral introduction of the guests to each other. 

An introduction given for the mere purpose of enabling a 
lady and gentleman to go through a dance together does 
not constitute an acquaintanceship. The lady is at liberty, 
should she feel like doing so, to pass the gentleman the next 
day without recognition. 

To attempt to dance without a knowledge of dancing is 
not only to make one's self rediculous, but one's partner also. 



PARTY AND BALI -ROOM ETIQUETTE. ^95 

No lady or gentleman has a right to place a partner in this 
absurd position. 

Never forget a ball-room engagement. To do so is to 
commit an unpardonable offense against good breeding. 

It is not necessary that a lady or gentleman should be 
acquainted with the steps in order to walk gracefully and 
easily through a quadrille. An easy carriage and a know- 
ledge of the figure is all that is requisite. A round dance, 
however, should on no account be attempted without a 
thorough knowledge of the steps and some previous practice. 

No person who has not a good ear for time and tune 
need hope to dance well. 

At the conclusion of a dance the gentleman bows to his 
partner, and either promenades with her round the room or 
takes her to a seat. Where a room is set apart for refresh- 
ments he offers to conduct her thither. At a public ball no 
gentleman would, of course, permit a lady to pay for refresh- 
ments. Good taste forbids that a lady and gentleman should 
dance too frequently together at either a public or private 
ball. Engaged persons should be careful not to commit this 
conspicuous solecism. 

If a lady happens to forget a previous engagement, and 
stands up with another partner, the gentleman whom she has 
thus slighted is bound to believe that she has acted from 
mere inadvertence, and should by no means suffer his pride 
to master his good temper. To cause a disagreeable scene 
in a private ball-room is to affront your host and hostess, 
and to make yourself absurd. In a public room it is no less 
reprehensible. 

Always remember that good breeding and good temper 
(or the appearance of good temper) are inseparably con- 
nected. 

Young gentlemen are earnestly advised not to limit their 
conversation to remarks on the weather and the heat of the 
room. It is to a certain extent incumbent on them to do 
something more than dance when they invite a lady to join 



896 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

a quadrille. If it be only upon the news of the day, a gentle- 
man should be able to afford at least three or four observations 
to his partner in the course of a long half hour. 

Gentlemen who dance cannot be too careful not to injure 
the dresses of the ladies who do them the honor to stand up 
with them. The young men of the present day are singu- 
larly careless in this respect, and when they have torn a 
lady's delicate skirt appear to think the mischief they have 
done scarcely worth the trouble of an apology. 

A gentleman conducts his last partner to the supper- 
room, and having waited upon her while there, re-conducts 
her to the ball-room. 

Never attempt to take a place in a dance which has been 
previously engaged. 

A thoughtful hostess will never introduce a bad dancer 
to a good one, because she has no right to punish one friend 
in order to oblige another. 

It is not customary for married persons to dance together 
in society. 

Glossary. 



We subjoin a glossary of all the French words and expressions 
that have long since been universally accepted as the accredited 
phraseology of the ball-room. 
A vos places, back to your own places. 
A la fin, at the end. 
A droite, to the right. 
A guache, to the left. 
Balancez, set to your partners. 
Balancez aux coins, set to the corners. 
Balancez quatre en ligne, four dancers set in a line, joining hands, 

as in La Poule. 
Balancez en moulinet, gentlemett and their partners give each other 

right hands across, and balancez in the form of a cross. 
Balancez et tour des mains, all set to partners and turn to places. 

(See Tour des mains.) 
Ballotez, do the same four times without changing your places. 



PARTY AND BALL-ROOM ETIQUETTE. 897 

Chaine Anglaise, opposite couples right and left. 

Chaine des dames, ladies change. 

Chaine Anglaise double, right and left. 

Chaine des dames double, all the ladies perform the ladies' chain at 

the same time. 
Chassez croisez, do the chasse step from left to right, or right to left, 

the lady passing before the gentleman in the opposite direction — 

that is, moving right if he moves left, and vice versa. 
Chassez croisez et dechassez, chattge places with partners, ladies 

passi?tg in front, first to the right, then to the left, back to places. 

It 7nay be either a quatre — four couples — or les huit — eight 

couples. 
Chassez a droite — a guache, move to the right — to the left. 
Le cavalier seul, gentleman advances alone. 
Les cavaliers seuls deux fois, gentlemen advance attd retire tivice 

without their partners. 
Changez vos dames, chattge partners. 

Centre partie pour les autres, the other dancers do the same figure. 
Demi promenade, half promenade. 
Demi chaine Anglaise, half right and left. 
Demi moulinet, ladies all advance to center, right hands across, and 

back to places. 
Demi tour a qnditvQ , four hands half round. 
Dos-a-dos, lady and opposite gentleman advance, pass round each 

other back to back, atid return to places. 
Les dames en moulinet, ladies give right hands across to each other, 

half round, and back again with left hands. 
Les dames donnent la main droit — gauche — a leurs cavalier, ladies 

give the right — left — hands to partners. 
En avant deux et en arriere, first lady and vis-a-vis, gentleman 

advance atid retire. To secure brevity, en avant is always 

understood to imply en arriere when the latter is not expressed. 
En avant deux fois, advance and retreat twice. 

En avant quatre, _/?yi'/ couple and their vis-a-vis advance and retire. 
En avant trois, three advance and retire, as in La Pastorale. 
Figurez devant, dance before. 

Figurez a droite — a gauche, dance to the right — to the left. 
La grande tour de rond, all join hands and dance completely round 

the figure in a circle back to places. 



898 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Le grand rond, all join hands, and advance and retreat twice, as in 

La Finale. 
Le grand quatre, all eight couples form into squares. 
La grande chaine, all the cpnples move quite round the figure, giving 

alternately the right and left handle each in succession, begin- 
ning with the right, until all have regained their places, as in 

last figure of the Lancers. 
La grande promenade, all eight (or more) couples promenade all 

round the figjire back to places. 
La main, the hand. 

La meme pour les cavaliers, gentlemen do the same. 
Le moulinet, hand across. The figure will explain whether it is 

the gentlemen or the ladies, or both, who are to perform it. 
Pas de Allemande, the gentleman turns his partner tinder each arm 

in succession. 
Pas de Basque, a kind of sliding step forward, performed with 

both feet alternately, in quick succession. Used in the Redowa 

and other dances. Comes from the South of France. 
Glissade, a sliding step. 
Le T\to\t, first couple cross, with hands joined, to opposite couple's 

place, opposite couple crossing separately outside them; then cross 

back to places, same figure reversed. 
Tour des mains, give both hands to partner, and turn her round 

without quitting your places. 
Tour sur place, the satne. 
Tournez vos dames, tlie same. 
Tour aux coins, turn at the corners, as in the Caledonians, each 

gentlonan turning the lady who stands nearest his left hand, 

and immediately returning to his own place. 
Traversez, cross over to opposite place. 
Retraversez, cross back again. 
Traversez deux, en donnant la main droite, lady and vis-a-vis, 

gentleman cross, giving his right hand, as in La Poule. 
Vis-a-vis, opposite. 
Figure en tournant, circular form. 



■iT --,■',■■ 



^ GTIQUGTTG. ^ 



etiquette of Riding and DriY^ing. 



"TTVIDING is an accomplishment in which all ladies 
tf^V and gentlemen should be proficient. Riding, like 
swimming, cannot be taught by precept ; it must be taught 
early and practiced constantly — as little in the school and 
as much upon the road as possible. 




>-f\fy^L't>teiD 



„V7r ^55:1 

LADV AND GENTLEMAN RIDING. 



A lady's riding-habit should be simple, close-fitting, and 
made by a first-rate tailor. The later habit is much shorter 
and narrower than the old style, and is always worn with 
pantaloons of the same materials underneath. 

A lady can indulge her love of luxury only in her rid- 
ing-whip. This may be jeweled, and as elegant as she may 
wish. Her gloves must always be unexceptionable. 

The art of mounting must be properly acquired, "since in 
riding, as in other things, it is proficiency in trifles that pro- 
claims the artist. 



g02 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The lady, having mounted the riding-steps, places he>.' 
left foot in the stirrup, rises into her seat, and lifts the right 
leg into its place, taking care to let the habit fall properly. 

If no riding-steps are at hand, her escort or groom must 
assist her to mount. Hence she must learn to mount in 
both ways. In the latter case, she places her left foot in 
the right hand of the gentleman or servant ; he lifts it vig- 
orously but gently, and she springs lightly into the saddle. 

A lady who rides much, and wishes to keep her figure 
straight, should have two saddles, and change from one to 
the other. 

The great point in riding is to sit straight in the middle 
of your saddle, to know the temper of your horse, and 
to be able to enjoy a good gallop in moderation. 

Ladies should not lean forward in riding. 

They should not rise in the saddle in trotting. 

They should know how to hold the reins, and the differ- 
ent uses of each. 

A gentleman, in riding, as in walking, gives the lady the 
wall. 

In assisting a lady to mount, hold your hand at a con- 
venient distance from the ground, that she may place her 
foot in it. As she springs, assist her with the impetus of 
your arm. Practice only will enable you to do this prop- 
erly. 

A gentleman should be able to mount on either side of 
his horse. He places his left foot in the stirrup, his left 
hand on the saddle, and swings himself up, throwing his 
rieht lee over the horse's back. Nothing- is more awkward 
than to see a man climb into a saddle with both hands. 

The correct position is to sit upright and well back iii 
the saddle ; to keep the knees pressed well in against the 
sides of the saddle, and the feet parallel to the horse's 
body ; to turn the toes in rather than out. The foot should 
be about half-way in the stirrup. 

The great desideratum in the art of riding is plenty of 
confidence. A timid person can never be a good rider. 



ETIQUETTE OF RIDIXG AND DRIVING. 



903 



When escorting a lady be sure that her horse is quite 
safe, every part of its harness in perfect condition, and 
keep on the alert to assist her on the slightest sign of 
danger. 

A gentleman riding with two ladies will keep to the 
right of both, unless it be necessary for him to ride between 
them in order to render some assistance. 

In dismounting, the gentleman will take the lady's left 
hand in his right, remove the stirrup and place her foot in 
his left hand, lowering her gently to the ground. 




LADV ALIGHTING. 



Keep on the right or off side, and never presume to 
touch her mount any more than you would that of a gen- 
tleman friend. 



Gtiquette of t)riv?ing. 



\] tHE art of driving is simple enough, but requires 
g-^ practice. No one should pretend who does not 
understand every part of the harness and be able to har- 
ness or unharness a horse himself. 



904 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



A good driver will use his horse well, whether it be his 
own or another's. He will turn corners gently, and know 
when to drive fast and when to ease him up. 

In the carriage, a gentleman places himself with his 
back to the horses, leaving the best seat for the ladies. 
Only very elderly gentlemen are privileged to take the 
back seat to the exclusion of young ladies. No gentleman 
driving alone with a lady should sit beside her, unless he is 




STREET PROMEMADE SCENE. 



her husband, father, son or brother. Even an affianced 
lover should remember this rule of etiquette. 

To get in and out of a carriage gracefully is quite an 
accomplishment. If there is but one step, and you are 
going to face the horses, put your left foot on the step and 
the other in the carriage, so that you can drop at once into 
your seat. If you are to sit the other way, reverse the 
process. Be careful to turn your back the way you intend 
sitting, so as to avoid turning around. 

A gentleman should be careful to avoid stepping on the 



ETIQUETTE OF THE STREET. 905 

lady's dress in getting into the carriage. He should be 
careful also not to catch it in the door as he closes it. 

A gentleman should always get out of a carriage first, 
in order to assist the lady in alighting. 

When a gentleman intends taking a lady driving in a 
one-seated vehicle, he should always be sure his horse is a 
safe one before trusting himself wiih it, as he is obliged to 
get out to assist the lady in and out of the vehicle. When 
helping her in he should be careful always to hold the reins 
so that he can check the animal in case it should Istart 
suddenly. 

The dress should never be lifted in alighting from a 
carriage, but left to trail upon the ground. 



Qtiquette of the gtreet. 



^7^ LADY will bow first if she meets a gentleman acquaint- 
^>*% ance on the street. 

A lady will not stop on the street to converse with a 
gentleman. If he wishes to chat with her he will turn and 
walk by her side until he has finished his conversation, then 
raise his hat and leave her. 

It is not etiquette for a lady to take the arm of a gentle- 
man on the street in the day time, unless he be a lover or 
husband, and even then it is seldom done in America. 

In England it is permissible for a lady to accept the arm 
of even an ordinary acquaintance on the street In foreign 
cities it is not comme il faut for ladies to appear on the 
street at all without a gentleman. 

A gentleman escorting two ladies may offer each an arm, 
but a lady should never, under any circumstances, walk 
between two gentlemen holding an arm of each. 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 906 

On meeting friends or acquaintances on the street or in 
public places, you should be careful not to call their names so 
loudly as to attract the attention of those around. 

Never call across the street, and never carry on a con- 
versation in a public vehicle unless you are seated side by 
side. 

Gentlemen should never stare at ladies on the street. 

In walking with a lady a gentleman should take charge of 
any small parcel, book, etc., with which she may be burdened. 

Never recognize a gentleman unless you are perfectly 
sure of his identity. Nothing is more awkward than a mis- 
take of this kind. 

A well-bred man must entertain no respect for the brim 
of his hat. True politeness demands that the hat be re- 
moved entirely from the head. Merely to nod or to touch 
the brim of your hat is a lack of courtesy. The body should 
not be bent at all in bowing. 

A gentleman will always give a lady the inside of the 
walk on the street. 

Ladies should avoid walking rapidly on the street, as it 
is ungraceful. 

A gentleman walking with a lady should accommodate 
his step to hers. It looks exceedingly awkward to see a 
gentleman two or three paces ahead of a lady with whom he 
is supposed to be walking. 

Staring at people, expectorating, looking back on the 
street, calling in a loud voice, laughing, etc., are very bad 
manners on the street. 

A gentleman attending a lady will hold the door open for 
her to pass. He will also perform the same service for any 
lady passing in or out unattended. 

A gentleman may assist a lady from an omnibus, or over 
a bad crossing, without the formality of an introduction. 
Having performed the service, he will bow and retire. 

No gentleman will smoke when standing or walking with 
a lady on the street. 



ETIQUETTE OF TRAVELING. 



907 



A quiet and unobtrusive demeanor upon the street is the 
sign of a true lady, who goes about her own affairs in a 
business-like way and has always a pleasant nod and smile 
for friends and acquaintances. 



etiquette of Traveling. 



No class of people carry with them so many distinguish- 
ing marks as the experienced and the mexperienced traveler. 




RAILWAY CAR bLl.:-.}:, rKolliK, 



The former is always cool and collected, occupies the best 
seat in the middle of the car on the shady side and next to 
the window, and is especially remarkable for a total lack of 
flurry and excitement. 

All this is owing to the fact that he has had a long and 
varied experience as a traveler, and in that way gained a 
knowledge of the minor points in traveling, which go far 



908 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

toward begetting- that state of peaceful confidence which is 
the source of much envy to the uninitiated 

The experienced traveler is always on time ; he keeps a 
time-table of the trains at hand for reference, and never fail- 
to have his watch going correctly. His baggage is always 
properly checked and his ticket safely stowed away in his 
inside pocket. Being certain that he is on the right train, 
with everything in order, his mind is serene, and a smile of 
benignant complacency illumines his countenance as he un- 
folds his evening paper or reviews the faces of his fellow- 
passengers. 

The inexperienced traveler comes hurrying on the train 
at the last moment, all in a heat and flurry, and is scarcely 
seated on the last seat in the car, where he'll catch all the 
drafts from the opening door, when he discovers that he has 
lost his ticket or forgotten to check his baggage. Then 
ensues a storm of anxious inquires and querulous complain- 
ings, and before he has reached his destination he is voted 
a bore by all his fellow-passengers. 



Suggestions to Travelers. 



Consider what route you intend taking when you are 
contemplating a journey, and decide definitely upon it. Go 
to the ticket-office of the road and procure a time-table, 
where you will find the hour for leaving, together with 
names of stations on the road, etc. 

When you intend taking a sleeping-berth, secure your 
ticket for same a day or two before you intend starting, so 
as to obtain a desirable location. A lower berth in the cen- 
tre of the car is always the most comfortable, as you escape 
the jar of the wheels and drafts from the opening door. 

Take as little baggage as possible, and see that your 
trunks are strong and securely fastened. A good, stout 
leather strap is a safeguard against bursting locks. 



ETIQUETTE OF TRAVELING. 



909 



In checking your baggage, look to the checks yourself, 
to make sure the numbers correspond. Having once received 
your check, you need not concern yourself further about 
your baggage. The company is responsible for its safe 
delivery. 

It is a wise precaution to have your name and address 
carefully written upon any small article of baggage, such as 
satchel, umbrella, duster, etc., so that in case you leave them 
in the car the railway employes may know where to send 
them. 




RAILWAY CAB SCE.N'E, IMTROrFR. 



An overcoat or package lying upon a seat is an indica- 
tion that the seat is taken, and the owner has only left 
temporarily. It would, therefore, be rude in you to remove 
the articles and occupy the seat. 

It is only courteous for a gentleman, seeing a lady 
looking for a seat, to offer the one beside him, as she 
scarcely likes to seat herself besides him without such invi- 



910 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

tation, although she will, of course, if there are no entirely- 
vacant seats, do so in preference to standing. 

A courteous gentleman will also relinquish his place to 
two ladies, or a gentleman and lady who are together, and 
seek other accommodations. Such a sacrifice always receives 
its reward in grateful admiration of his character. 

Ladies traveling alone, when addressed in a courteous 
manner by gentlemen, should reply politely to the remark ; 
and in long journeys it is even allowable to enter into con- 
versation without the formality of an introduction. But a 
true lady wall always know how to keep the conversation 
from bordering on familiarity, and by a quiet dignity and 
sudden hautetir will effectually check any attempt at pre- 
sumption on the part of her strange acquaintance. 

Always consult the comfort of others when traveling. 
You should not open either door or window in a railway 
coach without first ascertaining if it will be agreeable to 
those near enough to be affected by it. Ladies, in particular, 
should remember that they have not chartered the whole 
coach, but only paid for a small fraction of it, and be careful 
not to monopolize the dressing-room for two or three hours 
at a stretch, while half a dozen or more are waiting outside 
to arrange their toilets. 

Genteel travelers will always carry their own toilet 
articles, and not depend on the public brush and comb. 

A lady will avoid over-dressing in traveling. Silks and 
velvets, laces and jewelry are terribly out of place on a rail- 
road train. The appointment of the traveler may be as 
elegant as yow please, but they should be distinguished by 
exceeding plainess and quietness of tone. Some ladies 
have an idea that any old thing is good enough to travel in, 
and so look exceedingly shabby on the train 

In America, the liberty of action accorded women 
is so much greater than that allowed in any other country 
in the world, that a special code of etiquette on some 
points is necessary in order to inform them how to act under 
all circumstances. 



feTIQUETTE OF TRAVELlK-G. Qt 1 

In England, the land of greatest liberty after ours, no 
lady of much gentility makes a journey without a male 
escort, or at least the company of her maid. Here it is 
quite common for ladies of the best families and greatest 
refinement to make journeys of length without the attendance 
of a male relative. Very young ladies are not allowed to 
travel, however, without the attendance of some older 
person, either male or female. 

The directions for traveling having been given elsewhere, 
we will confine our directions to the manner in which an 
unattended lady shall behave at 



The Hotel. 



A LADY should enter a hotel by way of the lady's 
entrance. A servant is always in attendance at the door to 
show her to the parlor, where she will be waited upon by the 
proprietor or clerk, to whom she should present her card 
and state how long she intends remaining. 

A simple request to the waiter, particularly if it be backed 
by a slight remuneration, will insure his meeting her at the 
dining-room entrance and preceding her to her seat, thus 
obviating the slight awkwardness of crossing a full dining- 
room without an escort. 

All conversation at a hotel table should be conducted in 
a low tone of voice so as not to attract attention, and 
especially should care be taken that no remarks of a personal 
nature are overheard by others. A lady will, of course, not 
enter into conversation with any but friends at a public 
table. 

While waiting to be served it is permissible to read a 
paper at a hotel table. All orders should be given in a low 
but clear and distinct tone of voice. Never ask any one 
at the table to pass you anything. That is the duty of the 
waiter. 



QI2 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Never point to any article wanted ; a glance at the dish, 
with a quiet request or a mere look at the waiter, is usually 
sufficient. 

All loud and ostentatious dressing is out of place in a 
hotel dining-room. A quiet, unassuming dress of cloth or 
plain black silk is the most ladylike. 

When a lady is without escort, it would be best for her 
not to take her supper in the dining-room late in the even- 
ing. She can have a meal sent to her room at a trifling 
extra cost. 

A lady should never loiter in the halls, nor stand alone 
at a hotel window. 

She should never hum to herself while going through the 
halls, nor play on the piano, nor sing in a hotel parlor un- 
less invited to do so. 

It is desirable when stopping at a hotel to secure a plea- 
sant, comfortable room, with plenty of air and sunshine and 
a good outlook. 

Be sure to lock your trunk and the door of your room 
whenever leaving it. If you have valuables, such as dia- 
monds and much money, it is safer to leave them with the 
proprietor to be locked in the safe. They can easily be ob- 
tained whenever wanted by ringing for them. 

It is never the act of a lady or gentleman to be scolding 
at servents. If their conduct gives you dissatisfaction, com- 
plain to the proprietor. Always tender your requests in a 
pleasant and courteous manner, and you will usually find 
them promptly attended to. 

As a lady without escort is apt to require more service 
than one who has, it is only right to tender a little extra fee 
to the servant who has been especially attentive. A retain- 
ing fee, that is, a small sum given at the outset, is very apt 
to secure all the attention that can be desired. 

A lady should always avoid all hurry and bustle in travel- 
ing by securing her ticket beforehand and having her trunk 
packed and ready to express in good time. 



HOME ETIQUETTE. 913 

In order to secure herself positively against all imperti- 
nence and intrusion when unattended, a lady has need of 
a great deal of dignity and quiet reserve ; if she be naturally 
of a lively arnd chatty disposition, she must beware how she 
indulge these innocent propensities, lest they be misunder- 
stood. An intelligent and thoroughbred lady, however, can 
travel alone anywhere in America without experiencing the 
slightest lack of respect or courteous attention. 



^ome etiquette. 



aHILDREN should speak respectfully to parents and 
obey the slightest command immediately. 
Parents should address a child in a mild, pleasant, but 
firm manner. Issue no orders but those of a just and 
reasonable nature, and then see that they are obeyed. 

Govern with justice and kindness, and home will be in- 
deed a little heaven on earth. 



The Lady's Toilet. 

Cleanliness is the outward sign of inward purity. 
Cleanliness is health, and health is beauty. 

The first business of the dressing-room is the bath, and 
this should be a complete bath, and not simply a hasty wash- 
ing of the face. It is not to be supposed that a lady washes 
to become clean, but simply to remain clean. A bathing of 
the entire body at least once a day is essential to health. It 
is not necessary to have a bath tub for this purpose, but 
merely an ordinary basin of tepid water, with soap, sponge 
and clean towels. 

The whole body may be quickly sponged off, or the 

58 



914 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

sponge may be dispensed with and the hands alone used to 
convey the water to the body, after which dry the body 
thoroughly with a soft towel, and then use a coarse Turkish 
towel vigorously until the skin is red from the Triction. In 
lieu of she coarse towel, a liberal use of the flesh-brush may 
be made, but either one or both must be regularly used, as 
nothing tends to keep the complexion in good condition so 
much as the daily use of the flesh-brush. 

Persons living in cities where Turkish baths are estab- 
lished will find a bath of this kind once a week very benefi- 
cial to their health. Oftener than this the baths would be 
apt to have an enervating effect. But an occasional Turkish 
bath is the most effectual cleanser in the world. 

Early rising contributes not only to the preservation of 
health, but the proper condition of the mental faculties Too 
much sleep induces miner ailments, both of the body and 
mind. Fresh air, moderate exercise and good ventilation, 
together with the daily bath, are the greatest health-pre- 
servers. 



The Teeth. 



Scrupulous care is necessary to the preservation of the 
teeth. The teeth should be carefully brushed, not only 
every night and morning, but after every meal. 

The best and only needful tooth powder is a simple 
preparation of chalk. The numerous dentifrices advertised 
are most of them worthless, and many of them positively 
injurious. 

A good tooth-brush, not too stiff, is necessary. Very 
hot and very cold things and a great deal of sweets are 
injurious to the teeth. 

Upon the first indication of decay, a good dentist should 
be consulted ; cheap dentistry is bad economy. 



HOME ETIQUETTE. 915 



The Breath. 



It goes without saying th^t a sweet breath is one of the 
essentials of happiness, and should therefore be carefully 
looked to. The principal causes of a bad breath are a dis- 
ordered stomach, decaying teeth and catarrhal affections. 
In the latter case a good specialist should be consulted. 
When it arises from digestive difficulty, the diet should be 
changed to one better suited to the system. 

The eating of anything that will give an unpleasant odor 
to the breath is to be avoided. 

The Nails. 

Much care and attention is given to the nails by those 
who are particular in matters of the toilet. Of late years 
the care of the nails has been elevated to a profession, and 
persons calling themselves "manicures" make it their busi- 
ness to dress the nails of ladies of fashion. 

It is sufficient, however, if you keep the nails carefully 
and evenly trimmed — great care, however, being required 
to preserve the correct, shape, and keep all superfluous skin 
entirely removed. Plenty of warm water, Windsor soap and 
a nail-brush are all that is required to keep the hands in 
good condition. 

The Hair. 



The hair should be regularly brushed, morning and 
evening, with a clean hair-brush. It is important that the 
brushing be frequent ; it is also important that the brush be 
quite clean. 

The brush should be washed every day with hot water 
and soda, in order to preserve a glossy appearance to the 
hair. Occasionly the nair may be cleansed with a mixture 



g\6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

of glycerine and lime juice. Pomades and oil should be care- 
fully avoided. 

Never attempt to change the color of your hair by means 
of dyes and fluids. Your own ^air, as nature colored it, is apt 
to be the only shade that will correspond with your eyes, eye- 
brows and complexion. Practices of this kind are much to 
be condemned. They indicate a senseless desire for fashion, 
and an equally unladylike desire to attract attention. The 
use of hair dyes, false hair, etc., is almost as much to be 
condemned as painted cheeks and penciled brows. 

The Complexion. 



As to the art of obtaining a good complexion, all the 
receipts in the world can have but little effect compared with 
the excellence of early rising, regular habits, careful diet 
and absolute cleanliness. The various lotions recommended 
by Madame Rachel, and others of her ilk, the milk bath, 
pearl powders and washes of every kind, would never be 
needed if ladies were always careful to take plenty of exer- 
cise in the open air, wear broad-brimmed hats m the sun and 
veils in the wind. 

The face should never be washed when heated from 
exercise. Wipe the perspiration from the skin and wait 
until it is sufficiently cool before you bathe even in warm 
water. Rain-water is the best for bathing purposes. If an 
eruption break out on the skin, consult a physician. 

Dress. 



In dress, as in other things, society has passed under 
that wave of new impuLe which has so much changed the 
appearance oi our houses, the arrangement of our interiors, 
and even the texture and fashion of manufactures. 

That which we wore placidly, and even with a little com- 
plaisance and sense of superior good taste, twenty years ago, 



HOME ETIQUETTE. 91/ 

would fill US with alarm and horror now. The change 
which has taken place is more than a change of fashion ; it 
is a change of principle. The differences of shape and 
form, which vary from one three-months to another, are but 
fluctuations of the standard, but the alteration which we 
have recently arrived at is fundamental. It has affected, not 
only the cut, but the color, the fabric, the kind of our gar- 
ments, and has relieved the severity of rule and left such 
a margin for individual fancy as was not dreamed of twenty 
years ago. 

The change is chiefly visible in feminine apparel. Where 
are now the fine full tones of blue and of green, the bright 
pinks, the orange yellow, in which we once flaunted in 
happy ignorance, knowing no better and believing, with 
some show of reason, that we were imitating the tints of na- 
ture, the color of the flowers and of the birds ? Where are 
now our apple-green gowns and our silk shawls "shot" with 
blue and yellow? 

The world has paled since those favored days ; even the 
vaporous tarlatan of the ball-room has sunk into softer tints, 
and in daylight no color effronts the eye of heaven that is 
not neutral. 

The result of the new impulse is to make Art the guide 
in matters of dress ; but with all due respect to that divine 
Priestess of the Beautiful, we cannot but believe that she 
would prove a dangerous guide in a matter that involves so 
many practical features and so many individual peculiarities. 

Whatever painters may think, there are many costumes 
effective in a picture, which would not be at all beautiful upon 
a living woman, and indiscriminate following of the fancies of 
Art would not be much less fatal than the usual indiscrim- 
inate following of fashion. 

No dress can be good which is not useful and into which 
the elements of individuality do not enter. The garments 
adapted for the slim and the tall and the graceful will never, 
however admirable in themselves, agree with the dowdy, the 
dumpy or the ordinary. 



91 8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Fashion, indeed, throughout all its vagaries, has this one 
principle of humanity in it, that it is almost always designed 
to help those who want help, to cover deficiencies of nature, 
to conceal the evils wrought by time, and to make those look 
their best to whom no special charms have been given. 

Beautiful persons are free of all such bonds. Whenever 
they wear becomes them — they confer grace, they do not 
receive it; therefore fashion is immaterial to them. The 
time has never been when they were not allowed to flout 
it at their will. What saying is more general than, "She 
can wear anything?" It is said in admiration, in enthusi- 
asm, in envy, and in spite, but still it is said constantly of 
these favorites of Nature. And youth, even when not 
beautiful, has, to a certain extent, the same privilege. 

As a matter of fact, dress is by no means ^n unimport- 
ant item in human well-being, and it may fairly claim to be 
considered in the light of a fine art. 

To dress well requires something more than a full 
purse and a pretty figure. It requires taste, good sense 
and refinement. 

A woman of taste and good sense will neither make 
dress her first nor her last object in life. She will remem- 
ber that it is her duty to her husband and to society to 
always appear well dressed. 

Dress, to be in perfect taste, need not be costly, and no 
woman of right feeling will adorn her person at the expense 
of her husband's comfort and her children's education. 

The toilet of a well-dressed woman will be as well- 
chosen at the breakfast-table as at ball or reception. 

If she loves bright colors and can wear them with impun- 
ity, she will combine them as harmoniously as an artist does 
his colors. If she is young, her dress will be beautiful : if 
she is old, she will not affect simplicity. 



HOME ETIQUETTE. 919 



General Suggestions on Dress. 



The golden rule in dress is to avoid extremes. 

Always follow rather than lead the prevailing fashion in 
dress. 

Do not be so original in dress as to be peculiar, and do 
not effect fashions that are radically unbecoming to you. 

Ladies who are neither very young nor very striking 
should wear quiet colors. 

It is not necessary to be rich in order to dress well. A 
little care in the choice and arrangement of materials is all 
that is necessary. 

Be sure that your dressmaker is a woman of taste and 
perfectly mistress of her art. Do not trust to any ordinary 
sewing-woman who may know nothing about harmony of 
colors and grace of outlines. 

A faultless morning toilet in summer should consist of 
the freshest of muslins, white or of delicate tints, with a 
tasteful arrangement of fresh, new ribbons, and plain linen 
collars spotlessly laundried. These, however, are better 
suited to young unmarried or married ladies. 

Ladies of more advanced years may wear dark silks in 
the morning, but all jewelry, hair ornaments and fine laces 
should be eschewed for morning wear. 

Street costumes should always be quiet in tone. Fine 
woolen materials, in some shade of brown, gray, olive, dark 
green or dark blue, make the most suitable and natty street 
costumes. Any lady of taste who has once seen herself in 
some such costume, well-made and fitting to perfection, with 
hat and gloves to correspond, will never sigh for anything 
richer or more expensive for street wear. 

A lady of refinment will never wear a very expensive toilet 
of velvet or of silk or brocade of any light and conspicuous 
shade upon the street. Such costumes are exclusively for 
the carriage, for calling or for receptions. 



920 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Much jewelry is out of place in the daytime, whether 
on the street or for indoor wear. It is particularly out of 
place in church. A handsome brooch and small, unpretend- 
ing ear-rings are the only jewelry permissible in the daytime. 
Heavy bracelets, necklaces, a profusion of diamonds and 
finger-rings should be reserved for evening wear. 

Eno;lish ladies are much more strict in this matter than 
American ladies. According to their code it is never allow- 
able to wear diamonds, pearls and other precious stones in 
the daytime. Custom, however, supports the wearing of a 
pair of solitaires in the ears at any time and in any place in 
America. 

Young ladies should not wear much jewelry at any 
time. 

The dress of a gentleman should be perfectly unob- 
trusive, in entire harmony and becoming. 

Above all things should he avoid the extremes of fashion, 
such as wearing his coat extremely or absurdly short. When 
fashion dictates tight pantaloons, let him not have his so 
tight that he cannot bend in them ; nor, if broad ones be the 
mode, shall he have them so wide as to resemble his wife's 
gown. 

Loud patterns in cloth and glittering trinkets on the 
watch-chain are indications rather of the gambler than the 
gentleman. 

A gentleman will have his clothes made by a good 
tailor, easy of fit and excellent in quality, but subdued and 
quiet in tone, and neither too much in nor too far behind 
the prevailing style. Bulwer says, "A gentleman's coat 
should not fit too well," and he is right, as no self-respecting 
man wants to be taken for a tailor's dummy. 

The regulation dress for evening wear — but it should 
never be worn before sundown, no matter how ceremonious 
the cccasion — is black swallow-tail coat, black trowsers, 
black vest, cut low to show the shirt-front, thin patent- 
leather boots, a white cravat and light kid gloves. 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 92 1 

A gentleman should wear no jewelry but such as has a 
use, except it may be handsome ring. His sleeve-buttons 
and collar-studs should be of plain gold, but genuine. 
False jewelry is vulgar, and elaborate ornamentation is 
foppish. It is more genteel even to dispense with a gold 
watch-chain and wear only a plain black guard, 

If a ring is wofn, good taste would suggest that it be a 
fine antique intaglio rather than an expensive diamond. 



etiquette of Gourtsbijj and 7Vl<it"n^oni/'. 



First Steps in Courtship. 



IT would be out of place in these pages to grapple with 
a subject so large as that of Love in its various phases; 
a theme that must be left to poets, novelists and moralists 
to dilate upon. It is sufficient for our purpose to recognize 
the existence of this, the* most universal — the most 
powerful — of human passions, when venturing to offer our 
counsel and guidance to those of both sexes who, under its 
promptings, have resolved to become votaries of Hymen, 
but who, from imperfect knowledge of conventional usages, 
are naturally apprehensive that at every step they take they 
may render themselves liable to misconception, ridicule, or 
censure. 

We will take it for granted, then, that a gentleman has 
inone way or other become fascinated by a fair lady — pos- 
sibly a recent acquaintance — whom he is most anxious to 
know more particularly. His heart already feels "the inly 
touch of love, "and his most ardent wish is to have that 
love returned. 

At this point we venture to give him a word of serious 
advise. We urge him, before he ventures to take any step 
towards the pursuit of this object, to consider well his posi- 



922 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



tion and prospects in life, and reflect whether they are such 
as to justify him in deliberately seeking to win the young 
lady's affections, with the view of making her his wife at no 
distant period. Should he, after such a review of his affairs, 
feel satisfied that he can proceed honorably, he may then 
use fair opportunities to ascertain the estimation in which the 
young lady, as well as her family, is held by friends. It is 





AN OVEP-DRESSED FEMALE. 



A NEATLV-DRFSSED LADY. 



perhaps needless to add, that all possible delicacy and caution 
must be observed in making such inquiries, so as to avoid 
compromising the lady herself in the slightest degree. When 
he has satisfied himself on this head, and found no insur- 
mountable impediment in his way, his next endeavor will be, 
throuo-h the mediation of a common friend, to procure an 
introduction to the lady's family. Those who undertake such 
an office incur no slight responsibility, and are, of course, 
expected to be scrupulously careful in preforming it, and to 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 923 

communicate all they happen to know affecting the character 
and circumstances of the individual they introduce. 

We will now reverse the picture, and see how matters 
stand on the fair one's side. 

First, let us hope that the inclination is mutual ; at all 
events that the lady views her admirer with preference; that 
she deems him not unworthy of her favorable regard, and 
that his attentions are agreeable to her. It is true her heart 
may not yet be won : she has to be wooed ; and what fair 
daughter of Eve has not hailed with rapture that brightest 
day in the springtide of her life? She has probably first met 
the gentleman at a ball, or other festive occasion, where the 
excitement of the scene has reflected on every object around 
a roseate tint. We are to suppose, of course, that in looks, 
manners, and address, her incipient admirer is not below her 
ideal standard of gentlemanly attributes. His respectful 
approaches to her — in soliciting her hand as a partner in the 
dance, etc. — have first awakened on her part a slight feeling 
of interest towards him. This mutual feeling of interest, once 
established, soon "grows by what it feeds on." The exalta- 
tion of the whole scene favors its development, and it can 
hardly be wondered at if both parties leave judgment "out 
in the cold" while enjoying each other's society, and possibly 
already pleasantly occupied in building "castles in the air." 
Whatever may eventually come of it, the fair one is conscious 
for the nonce of being unusually happy. This emotion is 
not likely to be diminished when she finds herself the object 
of general attention — accompanied, it may be, by the display 
of a little envy among rival beauties — owing to the assiduous 
homage of her admirer. At length, prudence whispers that 
he is to her, as yet, a comparative stranger; and with a 
modest reserve she endeavors to retire from his observation, 
so as not to seem to encourage his attentions. The gentle- 
man's ardor, however, is not to be thus checked ; he again 
solicits her to be his partner in a dance. She finds it hard, 
very hard, to refuse him ; and both, yielding at last to the 



924 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

alluring influences by which they are surrounded, discover at 
the moment of parting that a new and delightful sensation 
has been awakened in their hearts. 

At a juncture so critical in the life of a young, inexper- 
ienced woman as that when she begins to form an attach- 
ment for one of the opposite sex — at a moment when she 
needs the very best advice, accompanied with a consider- 
ate regard for her overwrought feelings — the very best 
course she can take is to confide the secret of her heart to 
that truest and most loving of friends — her mother. For- 
tunate is the daughter who has not been deprived of that 
wisest and tenders of counselors ^ whose experience of life, 
whose prudence and sagacity, whose anxious care and 
appreciation of her child's sentiments, and whose awakened 
recollections of her own trysting days, qualify and entitle 
her, above all other beings, to counsel and comfort her trust- 
ing child, and to claim her confidence. Let the timid girl 
then pour forth into her mother's ear the flood of her pent-up 
feelings. Let her endeavor to distrust her own judgment, 
and seek hope, guidance, and support from one who, she 
well knows, will not deceive or mislead her. The confidence 
thus established will be productive of the most beneficial 
results— by securing the daughter's obedience to her par- 
ent's advice, and her willing adoption of the observances 
prescribed by etiquette, which, as the courtship progresses, 
that parent will not fail to recommend as stricdy essential in 
this phase of life. Where a young woman has had the mis- 
fortune to be deprived of her mother, she should at such a 
period endeavor to find her next best counselor in some 
female relative, or other trustworthy friend. 

We are to suppose that favorable opportunities for meet- 
ing have occurred, until, by and by, both the lady and her 
admirer have come to regard each other with such warm 
feelings of inclination as to have a constant craving for each 
other's society. Other eyes have in the meantime not failed 
to notice the symptoms of a growing attachment ; and some 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. §2 5 

"kind friends" have, no aoubt, even set them down as 
already engaged. 

The admirer of the fair one is, indeed, so much enamored 
as to be unable longer to retain his secret within his own 
breast ; and not being without hope that his attachment is 
reciprocated, resolves on seeking an introduction to the 
lady's family preparatory to his making a formal declaration 
of love. 

It is possible, however, that the lover's endeavors to 
procure the desired introduction may fail of success, 
although where no material difference of social position 
exists, this difficulty will be found to occur less frequently 
than might at first be supposed. He must then discreetly 
adopt measures to bring himself, in some degree, under the 
fair one's notice ; such, for instance, as attending the place 
of worship which she frequents, meeting her, so often as to 
be manifestly for the purpose, in the course of her prome- 
nades, etc. He will thus soon be able to judge — even 
without speaking to the lady — whether his further atten- 
tions will be distasteful to her. The signs of this on the 
lady's part, though of the most trifling nature, and in no way 
compromising her, will be unmistakable ; for, as the poet 
tells us in speaking of the sex : — 

" He gave them but one tongue to say us ' Nay,' 
And two foiiind eyes to grant ! " 

Should her demeanor be decidedly discouraging, any 
perseverance on his part would be ungentlemanly and 
highly indecorous. But, on the other hand, should a timid 
blush intimate doubt, or a gentle smile lurking in the half- 
dropped eye give pleasing challenge to further parley, when 
possible, he may venture to write — not to the lady — that 
would be the opening of a clandestine correspondence ; an 
unworthy course, when every act should be open and 
straightforward, as tending to manly and honorable ends — 
but to the father or guardian, through the agency of a com- 
mon friend where feasible, or, in some instances, to the party 



926 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

at whose residence the lady may be staying. In his letter, 
he ought first to state his position in life and prospects, 
as well as mention his family connections ; and then request 
permission to visit the family, as a preliminary step to pay- 
ing his addresses to the object of his admiration. 

By this course, he in nowise compromises either himself 
or the lady, but leaves open to both, at any future period, 
an opportunity of retiring from the position of courtship 
taken up on the one side, and of receiving addresses on the 
other, without laying either party open to the accusation of 
fickleness or jilting. 



Etiquette of Courtship. 



In whatever way the attachment may have originated, 
whether resulting from old association or from a recent ac- 
quaintanceship between the lovers, we will assume that the 
courtship is so far in a favorable train that the lady's ad- 
mirer has succeeded in obtaining an introduction to her 
family, and that he is about to be received in their domestic 
circle on the footing of a welcome visitor, if not yet in the 
lightjof a probationary suitor. 

In the first place, matters will, in all probability, be found 
to amble on so calmly, that the enamored pair may seldom 
find it needful to consult the rules of etiquette : but in the 
latter, its rules must be attentively observed, or " the course 
of true love " will assuredly not run smooth. 

Young people are naturally prone to seek the company 
of those they love ; and, as their impulses are often at such 
times impatient of control, etiquette prescribes cautionary 
rules for the purpose of averting the mischief that un- 
checked intercourse and incautious familiarity might give 
rise to. For instance, a couple known to be attached to 
each other should never, unless when old acquaintances, 
be left alone for any length of time, nor be allowed to meet 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 927 

in any Other place than the lady's home — particularly at 
balls, concerts, and other public places- — except in the 
presence of a third party. This, as a general rule, should 
be carefully observed, although exceptions may occasion- 
ally occur under special circumstances. 

What the Lady Should Observe During Courtship. 

A LADY should be particular during the early days of 
courtship — while still retaining some clearness of mental 
vision — to observe the manner in which her suitor com- 
ports himself to other ladies. If he behave with ease and 
courtesy, without freedom or the slightest approach to 
license in manner or conversation ; if he never speak slight- 
ingly of the sex, and is ever ready to honor its virtues and 
defend its weakness ; she may continue to incline towards 
him a willing ear. His habits and his conduct must awaken 
her viofilant attention before it be too late. Should he come 
to visit her at irregular hours ; should he exhibit a vague or 
wandering attention — give proofs of a want of punctuality 
— show disrespect for age — sneer at things sacred, or 
absent himself from regular attendance at divine service — 
or evince an inclination to expensive pleasures beyond his 
means, or to low and vulgar amusements ; should he be 
foppish, eccentric, or very slovenly in his dress; or display 
a frivolity of mind and an absence of well-directed energy 
in his worldly pursuits ; let the young lady, we say, while 
there is yet time, eschew that gentleman's acquaintance, 
and allow it gently to drop. The effort, at whatever cost 
to her feelings, must be made, if she have any regard for 
her future happiness and self-respect. The proper course 
then to take is to intimate her distaste, and the causes that 
have given rise to it, to her parents or guardian, who will 
be pretty sure to sympathize with her, and to take measures 
for facllitatine the retirement of the gentleman from his 
pretensions. 



928 THE Practical home farmer. 



What the Gentleman Should Observe During Courtship. 



It would be well also for the suitor, on his part, during 
the first few weeks of courtship, carefully to observe the con- 
duct of the young lady in her own family, and the degree of 
estimation in which she is held by them, as well as among 
her intimate friends. If she be attentive to her duties ; 
respectful and affectionate to her parents ; kind and forbear- 
ing to her brothers and sisters ; not easily ruffled in temper ; 
if her mind be prone to cheerfulness and to hopeful aspira- 
tion, instead of the display of a morbid anxiety and dread 
of coming evil ; if her pleasures and enjoyments be those 
which chiefly center in home; if her words be characterized 
by benevolence, good-will and charity ; then we say, let him 
not hesitate, but hasten to enshrine so precious a gem in the 
casket of his affections. But if, on the other hand, he 
should find that he has been attracted by the tricksome 
affectation and heartless allurements of a flirt, ready to 
bestow smiles on all, but with a heart for none ; if she who 
has succeeded for a time in fascinating him be of uneven 
temper, easily provoked, and slow to be appeased ; 
foud of showy dress, and eager for admiration ; astatic 
about trifles, frivolous in her tastes, and weak and wavering 
in performing her duties ; if her religious observances are 
merely the formality of lip-service ; if she be petulant to her 
friends, pert and disrespectful to her parents, overbearing 
to her inferiors ; if pride, vanity and affectation be her 
characteristics; if she be inconstant in her friendships; 
gaudy and slovenly, rather than neat and scrupulously 
clean, in attire and personal habits ; then we counsel the 
gentleman to retire as speedily, but as politely, as possible 
from the pursuit of an object unworthy of his admiration 
and love ; nor dread that the lady's friends — who must 
know her better than he can do — 'will call him to account 
for withdrawing from the field. 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. Q29 

But we will take it for granted that all goes on well ; that 
the parties are, on sufficient acquaintance, pleased with each 
Other, and that the gentleman is eager to prove the sincerity 
of his affectionate regard by giving some substantial token 
of his love and homage to the fair one. This brings us to 
the question of presents, a point on which certain observ- 
ances of ettiquette must not be disregarded. A lady, for 
instance, cannot with propriety accept presents from a gen- 
tleman previously to his having made proposals of mar- 
riage. She would by so doing incur an obligation at once 
embarrassing and unbecoming. Should, however, the gen- 
tleman insist on making her a present — as of some trifling 
object of jewelry, etc. — there must be no secret about it. 
Let the young lady take an early opportunity of saying to 
her admirer, in the presence of her father or mother, " I 
am much obliged to you for that ring (or other trinket, as 
the case may be) which you kindly offered me the other 
day, and which I shall be most happy to accept, if my par- 
ents do not object; and let her say this in a manner which, 
while it increases the obligation, will divest it altogether of 
impropriety, from having been conferred under the sanction 
of her parents. 

We have now reached that stage in the progress of the 
Courtship, where budding affection, having developed into 
mature growth, encourages the lover to make 

the proposal. 

When about to take this step, the suitor's first difficulty 
is how to get a favorable opportunity ; and next, having got 
the chance, how to screw his courage up to give utterince 
to the "declaration." A declaration in writing should cer- 
tainly be avoided where the lover can by any possibility get 
at the lady's ear. But there are cases where this is so diffi- 
cult that an impatient lover cannot be restrained from adopt- 
ing the agency of a billet-dotix in declaring his passion. 

The lady, before proposal, is generally prepared for it. 

It is seldom that such an avowal comes without some pre- 
ss 



930 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

vious indications of look and manner on the part of the 
admirer, which can hardly fail of being understood. She 
may not, indeed, consider herself engaged ; and although 
nearly certain of the conquest she has made, may yet have 
her misgivings. Some gentlemen dread to ask, lest they 
should be refused. Many pause just at the point, and refrain 
from anything like ardor in their professions of attachment 
until they feel confident that they may be spared the morti- 
fication and ridicule that is supposed to attach to being 
rejected, in addition to the pain of disappointed hope. This 
hesitation when the mind is made up is wrong ; but it does 
often occur, and we suppose ever will do so, with persons ot 
great timidity of character. By it both parties are kept need- 
lessly on the fret, until the long-looked-for opportunity 
unexpectedly arrives, when the flood-gates of feeling are 
loosened, and the full tide of mutual affection gushes forth 
uncontrolled. It is, however, at this moment — the agony- 
point to the embarrassed lover, who "dotes yet doubts" — 
whose suppressed feelings rendered him morbidly sensitive 
— that a lady should be especially careful lest any show of 
either prudery or coquetry on her part should lose to her 
forever the object of her choice. True love is generally deli- 
cate and timid, and may easily be sacred by affected indiffer- 
ence, through feelings of wonderful pride. A lover needs 
very little to assure him of the reciprocation of his attach- 
ment ; a glance, a single pressure of the hand, a whispered 
syllable, on the part of the loved one, will suffice to confirm 
his hopes. 

REFUSAL BY THE YOUNG LADY. 

When a lady rejects the proposal of a gentleman, her 
behavior should be characterized by the most delicated feel- 
ino- towards one who, in offering her his hand, has proved his 
desire to confer upon her, by this implied preference for her 
above all other women, the greatest honor it is in his power 
to offer. Therefore, if she have no love for him, she ought 
at least to evince a tender regard for his feelings ; and in the 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 93 1 

event of her being previously engaged, should at once 
acquaint him with the fact. No right-minded man would 
desire to persist in a suit, when he well knew that the object 
of his admiration had already disposed of her heart. 

When a gentleman makes an offer of his hand by letter, 
the letter must be answered, and certainly not returned, 
should the answer be a refusal ; unless, indeed, when from a 
previous repulse, or some other particular and special circum- 
stance, such an offer may be regarded by the lady or her 
relatives as presumptuous and intrusive. Under such cir- 
cumstances, the letter may be placed by the lady in the hands 
of her parents or guardian, to be dealt with by them as they 
may deem most advisable. 

No woman of proper feeling would regard her rejection 
of an offer of marriage from a worthy man as a matter of 
triumph ; her feeling on such an occasion should be one of 
regretful sympathy with him for the pain she is unavoidably 
compelled to inflict. Nor should such a rejection be unac- 
companied with some degree of self-examination on her 
part, to discern whether any lightness of demeanor or tend- 
ency to flirtation may have given rise to a false hope of the 
favoring his suit. At all events, no lady should ever treat 
the man who has so honored her with the slig-htest disre- 
spect or frivolous disregard, nor ever unfeelingly parade a 
a more favored suitor before one whom she has refused. 

Conduct of the Gentleman when his Addresses are 

Kejected. 

The conduct of the gentleman under such distressing cir- 
cumstances should be characterized by extreme delicacy and 
a chivalrous resolve to avoid occasioning any possible annoy- 
ance or uneasiness to the fair author of his pain. If, how- 
ever, he should have reason to suppose that his rejection 
has resulted from mere indifference to his suit, he need not 
altogether retire from the field, but may endeavor to kindle 



932 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

a feeling of regard and sympathy for the patient endurance 
of his disappointment, and for his continued but respectful 
endeavors lO please the lukewarm fair one. But in case of 
avowed or evident preference for another, it becomes impera- 
tive upon him, as a gentleman, to withdraw at once, and so 
relieve the lady of any obstacle, that his presence or pre- 
tensions may occasion, to the furtherance of her obvious 
wishes. A pertinacious continuance of his attentions, on 
the part of one who has been distinctly rejected, is an insult 
deserving of the severest reprobation. Although the weak- 
ness of her sex, which ought to be her protection, frequently 
prevents a woman from forcibly breaking off an acquaint- 
ance thus annoyingly forced upon her, she rarely fails to 
resent suce impertinance by that sharpest of woman's 
weapons, a keen-edged but courteous ridicule, which few 
men can bear up against. 

Refusal by the Lady's Parents or Guardians. 



It may happen that both the lady and her suitor are 
willing, but that the parents or guardians of the former, on 
being referred to, deem the connection unfitting, and 
refuse their consent. In this state of matters, the first thing 
a man of sense, proper feeling, and candor should do, is to 
endeavor to learn the objections of the parents, to see 
whether they cannot be removed. If they are based on 
his present insufficiency of means, a lover of a preserving 
spirit may effect much in removing apprehension on that 
score, by cheerfully submitting to a reasonable time of pro- 
bation, in the hope of amelioration in his worldly circum- 
stances. Happiness delayed will be none the less precious 
when love has stood the test of constancy and the trial of 
time. Should the objection be founded on inequality of 
social position, the parties, if young, may wait until matured 
age shall ripen their jugment and place the future more at 
their own disposal. A clandestine marriage should be pre- 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 933 

emptorily declined. In too many cases it is a fraud com- 
mitted by an elder and more experienced party upon onq 
whose ignorance of the world's ways, and whose confiding 
tenderness appeal to him for protection, even against him- 
self. In nearly all the instances we have known of such 
marriages, the result proved the step to have been ill- 
judged, imprudent, and highly injurious to the reputation of 
one party, and in the long run detrimental to the happiness 
of both. 

Conduct of the Engaged Couple. 



The conduct of the bridegroom-elect should be marked 
by a gallant and affectionate assiduity towards his lady-love 
— a denouement easily felt and understood, but not so easy 
to define. That of the lady towards him should manifest 
delicacy, tenderness, and confidence: while looking for his 
thorough devotion to herself, she should not captiously 
take offense and show airs at his showing the same kind of 
attention to other ladies as she, in her turn, would not hesi- 
tate to receive from the other sex. 

In the behavior of a gentleman towards his betrothed 
in public, little difference should be perceptible from his 
demeanor to other ladies, except in those minute attentions 
which none but those who love can properly understand or 
appreciate. 

In private the slightest approach to indecorous famili- 
arity must be avoided ; indeed it is pretty certain to be 
resented by every woman who deserves to be a bride. 
The lady's honor is now in her lover's hands, and he should 
never forget in his demeanor to and before her that that 
lady is to be his future wife. 

It is the privilege of the betrothed lover, as it is also his 
duty, to give advice to the fair one who now implicitly con- 
fides in him. Should he detect a fault, should he observe 
failings which he would wish removed or amended, let him 



934 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

avail himself of this season, so favorable for the frank inter- 
change of thought between the betrothed pair, to urge 
their correction. He will find a ready listener; and any 
judicious counsel offered to her by him will now be grate- 
fully received, and remembered in after-life. After mar- 
riage it may be too late ; for advice on trivial points of con- 
duct may then not improbably be resented by the wife as 
an unnecessary interference ; now, the fair and loving crea- 
ture is disposed, like pliant wax in his hands to mold her- 
self to his reasonable wishes in all things. 

Conduct of the Lady During her Betrothal. 



A LADY IS not expected to keep aloof from sQciety on her 
engagement, nor to debar herself from the customary atten- 
tions and courtesies of her male acquaintances generally ; 
but she should, while accepting them cheerfully, maintain 
such a prudent reserve, as to intimate that they are viewed 
by her as mere acts of ordinary courtesy and friendship. 
In all places of public amusement — at balls, the opera, 
etc. — for a lady to be seen with any other cavalier than her 
avowed lover, in close attendance upon her, would expose 
her to the imputation of flirtation. She will naturally take 
pains at such a period to observe the taste of her lover in 
regard to her costume, and strive carefully to follow it, for 
all men desire to bave their taste and wishes on such 
apparent trifles gratified. She should at the same time 
observe much delicacy in regard to dress, and be careful to 
avoid any unseemly display of her charms ; lovers are 
naturally jealous of observation under such circumstances. 
It is a mistake not seldom made by women, to suppose their 
suitors will be pleased by the glowing admiration expressed 
by other men for the object of their passion. Most lovers, 
on the contrary, we believe, would prefer to withdraw their 
prize from general observation until the happy moment for 
their union has arrived. 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 935 



Conduct of the Gentleman Towards the Family of his 

Betrothed. 



The lover, having now secured his position, should use 
discretion and tact in his intercourse with the lady's family, 
and take care that his visits be not deemed too frequent — 
so as to be really inconvenient to them. He should accom- 
modate himself as much as possible to their habits and 
ways, and be ever ready and attentive to consult their 
wishes. Marked attention, and in most cases affectionate 
kindness, to the lady's mother ought to be shown ; such 
respectful homage will secure for him many advantages in 
his present position. He must not, however, presume to 
take his stand yet as a member of the family, nor exhibit 
an obtrusive familiarity in manner and conversation. 
Should a disruption of the engagement from some unex- 
pected cause ensue, it is obvious that any such premature 
assumption would lead to very embarrassing results. In 
short, his conduct should be such as to win for himself the 
esteem and affection of all the family, and dispose them 
ever to welcome and desire his presence, rather than 
regard him as an intruder. 

Conduct of the Lady on Retiring from her Engagement. 

Should this step unhappily be found necessary on the 
lady's part, the truth should be spoken, and the reasons 
frankly given ; there must be no room left for the suspicion 
of its having originated in caprice or injustice. The case 
should be so put that the gentleman himself must see and 
acknowledge the justice of the painful decision arrived at. 
Incompatible habits, ungentlemanly actions, anything tend- 
ing to diminish that respect for the lover which should be 
felt for the husband; inconstancy, ill-governed temper — 
all of which, not to mention other obvious objections — are 



936 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

to be considered as sufficient reasons for terminating an 
engagement. The communication should be made as ten- 
derly as possible ; room may be left in mere venial cases 
for reformation ; but all that is done must be so managed 
that not the slightest shadow of fickleness or want of faith 
may rest upon the character of the lady. It must be 
remembered, however, that the termination of an engage- 
ment by a lady has the privilege of passing unchallenged ; 
a lady not being boujid to declare any other reason than 
her will. Nevertheless she owes it to her own reputation 
that her decision should rest on a sufficient foundation, and 
be unmistakeably pronounced. 



Conduct of the Gentleman on Retiring from His Engage- 
ment. 



We hardly know how to approach this portion of our 
subject. The reasons must be strong indeed that can suffi- 
ciently justify a man, placed in the position of an accepted 
suitor, in severing the ties by which he has bound himself to 
a lady with the avowed intention of making her his wife. 
His reasons for breaking off his engagement must be such 
as will not merely satisfy his own conscience, but wiJl 
justify him in the eyes of the world. If the fault be on the 
lady's side, great reserve and delicacy will be observed by 
any man of honor. If, on the other hand, the imperative 
force of circumstances, such as loss of fortune, or some 
other unexpected calamity to himself, may be the cause, then 
must the reason be clearly and fully explained, in such a 
manner as to soothe the painful feelings which such a result 
must necessarily occasion to the lady and her friends. It is 
scarcely necessary to point out the necessity for observing 
great caution in all that relates to the antecedents of an 
engagement that has been broken off; especially the return 
on either side of presents and of all letters that have 
passed. 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 937 



Correspondence. 



Letter-writing is one great test of ability and cultiva- 
tion, as respects both sexes. The imperfections of edu- 
cation may be to some extent concealed or glossed over in 
conversation, but cannot fail to stand out conspicuously in 
a letter. An ill-written letter infallibly betrays the vul- 
garity and ignorance indicative of a mean social position. 

But there is something more to be guarded against than 
even bad writing and worse spelling in a correspondence : 
sayhig too tmich — writing that kind of matter which will 
not bear to be read by other eyes than those for which it 
was originally intended. That this is too frequently done 
is amply proved by the love letters often read in a court of 
law, the most affecting passages from which occasion "roars 
of laughter" and the derisive comments of merry-making 
counsel. Occurrences of this kind prove how frequently 
letters are not returned or burned when an affair of the heart 
is broken off. Correspondence between lovers should at all 
events be tempered with discretion ; and on the lady's part 
particularly, her affectionate expressions should not degen- 
erate into a silly style of fondness. 

It is as well to remark here, that in correspondence 
between a couple not actually engaged, the use of Christian 
names in addressing each other should be avoided. 



Demeanor of the Suitor During Courtship. 



The manners of a gentleman are ever characterized by 
urbanity and a becoming consideration for the feelings and 
wishes of others, and by a readiness to practice self-denial. 
But the very nature of courtship requires the fullest exercise 
of these excellent qualities on his part. The lover should 
carefully accommodate his tone and bearing, whether cheer- 



938 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

fill or serious, to the mood for the time of his lady-love, 
whose slightest wish must be his law. In his assiduities to 
her he must allow of no stint; though hindered by time, 
distance, or fatigue, he must strive to make his profes- 
sional and social duties bend to his homage at the shrine 
of love. All this can be done, moreover, by a man of 
excellent sense with perfect propriety. Indeed, the world 
will not only commend him for such devoted gallantry, but 
will be pretty sure to censure him for any short-coming in 
his performance of such devoirs. 

It is, perhaps, needless to observe that at such a period 
a gentleman should be scrupulously neat, without appear- 
ing particular, in his attire. We shall not attempt to pre- 
scribe what he should wear, as that must, of course, depend 
on the times of the day when his visits are paid, and other 
circumstances, such as meeting a party of friends, going to 
the theater, etc., with the lady. 



Should a Courtship be Short or Long ? 



The answer to this question must depend on the previous 
acquaintanceship, connection, or relationship of the parties, 
as well as on their present circumstances, and the position of 
their parents. In case of relationship or old acquaintance- 
ship subsisting between the families, when the courtship, 
declaration, and engagement have followed each other 
rapidly, a short wooing is preferable to a long one, should 
other circumstances not create an obstacle. Indeed, as a 
o-eneral rule, we are disposed strongly to recommend a short 
courtship. A man is never well settled in the saddle of his 
fortunes until he be married. He wants spring, purpose, and 
aim ; and, above all, he wants a home as the center of his 
efforts. Some portion of inconvenience, therefore, may be 
risked to obtain this ; in fact, it often occurs that by waiting 
too long the freshness of life is worn off, and that the gener- 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATROMONY 939 

ous glow of early feelings becomes tamed down to lukewarm- 
ness by a too prudent delaying ; while a slight sacrifice of 
ambition or self-indulgence on the part of the gentleman, and 
a little descent from pride of station on the lady's side, might 
have insured years of satisfied love and happy wedded life. 

On the other hand, we would recommend a long court- 
ship as a'dvisable when — the friends on both sides favoring 
the match — it happens that the fortune of neither party 
will prudently allow an immediate marriage. The gentle- 
man, we will suppose, has his way to make in his profession 
or business, and is desirous not to involve the object of his 
affection in the distressing inconvenience, if not the misery, 
of straitened means. He reflects that for a lady it is an 
actual degradation, however love may ennoble the motive 
of her submission, to descend from her former footing in 
society. He feels, therefore, that this risk ought not to be 
incurred. For, although the noble and loving spirit of a 
wife might enable her to bear up cheerfully against mis 
fortune, and by her endearments sooth the broken spirit of 
her husband ; yet the lover who would willfully, at the 
outset of wedded life, expose his devoted helpmate to the 
ordeal of poverty, would be deservedly scouted as selfish 
and unworthy. These, then, are among the circumstances 
which warrant a lengthened engagement, and it should be 
the endeavor of the lady's friends to approve such cautious 
delay, and do all they can to assist the lover in his efforts 
to abridge it. The lady's father should regard the lover in 
the light of another son added to his family, and spare no 
pains to promote his interests in life, while the lady's 
mother should do everything in her power, by those small 
attentions which a mother understands so well, to make the 
protracted engagement agreeable to him, and as endurable 
as possible to her daughter. 



940 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Preliminary Etiquette of a Wedding. 

Whether the term of courtship may have been long or 
short — according to the requirements of the case — the 
time will at last arrive for 

FIXING the DAY. ' 

While it is the gentleman's province to press for the 
earliest possible opportunity, it is the lady's privilege to 
name the happy day ; not but that the bridegroom-elect 
must, after all, issue the fiat, for he has much to consider 
and prepare for beforehand : for instance, to settle where 
it will be most convenient to spend the honeymoon — a point 
which must depend on the season of the year, on his own 
vocation, and other circumstances. At this advanced state 
of affairs, we must not overlook the important question 
of 

THE BRIDAL TROUSSEAU AND THE WEDDING PRESENTS. 

Wedding presents must be sent always to the bride, 
never to the bridegroom, though they be given by friends 
of the latter. They should be sent during the week pre- 
vious to the wedding day, as it is customary to display 
them before the ceremony. 

Two cards folded in the invitation in the envelope are 
sent with the wedding invitation. The invitation is in the 
name of the bride's mother, or if she is not living, the 
relative or friend nearest the bride: 

Mrs. Nicholas Ruth, 

At Home, 

Tuesday, November i8th. 

From 1 1 till 2 o'clock. 
No. 86 VV. 47th Street, 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 94I 

The two cards, one large and one small, are folded in 
this invitation. Upon the large card is engraved : 

Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Johnson,. 

On the smaller one : 

Miss Rosie Ruth. 

If the young people " receive " after their return from 
the bridal tour, and there is no wedding-day reception, the 
following card is sent out : 

Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Johnsons 

At Home, 

Thursday, December 28th, 

From 1 1 till 2 o'clock. 
No. 50 E. 63d Street. 

Or, 

Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Johnson 

At Home, 
Thursdays in December. 

F"rom 1 1 till 2 o'clock. 
No. 50 E. 63d Street. 

The bridal calls are not expected to be returned until 
the last day of reception. 

The bridegroom gives to the first groomsman the 
control of the ceremony, and money for the necessary 
expenses. The first groomsman presents the bouquet to 
the bride, leads the visitors up to the young couple for the 
words of congratulation, gives the clergyman his fee, 
engages the carriages, secures tickets, checks baggage, 
secures pleasant seats, if the happy pair start by rail for the 
" moon ; " and, in short, makes all arrangements. 

If the wedding takes place in church, the front seats in 
the body of the church are reserved for the relatives of the 



942 tHE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

young couple. The bride must not be kept waiting. The 
clergyman should be within the rails, the bridegroom and 
groomsmen should be in the vestry-room by the time the 
bride is due at the church. The bridesmaids should receive 
the bride in the vestibule. 

The bridal party meet in the vestry-room. Then the 
bride, leaning on the arm of her father, leads the proces- 
sion ; the bridegroom, with the bride's mother upon his 
arm, follows ; then groomsmen and bridesmaids in couples 
follow. 

At the altar the bridegroom receives the bride, and the 
ceremony begins. The groomsmen stand behind the bride 
groom, the bridesmaids behind the bride. In some churches, 
the bride and bridegroom remove the right hand glove ; in 
others it is not considered essential. The bride stands on 
the left of the groom. 

When the wedding takes place at the house of the 
bride, the bridal party is grouped behind folding doors or 
curtains ere their friends see them. If, however, this is not 
convenient, they enter in the same order as in church. 

The first bridesmaid removes the bride's left hand glove 
for the ring. 

After the ceremony the bride and groom go in the same 
carriage from the church to the house, or from the house to 
the railway depot or boat. 

The bride does not change her dress until she assumes 
her traveling dress. Her wedding gown is worn at the 
breakfast. 

Friends of the family should call upon the mother of the 
bride during the two weeks after the wedding. 

Mourning must not be worn at a wedding. Even in the 
case of a widowed mother to either of the happy pair, it is 
customary to wear gray, or some neutral tint. 

It is no longer the fashion at a wedding or a wedding 
reception to congratulate the bride ; it is the bridegroom 
who receives congratulations ; the bride wishes for her 
future happiness. The bride is spoken to first. 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 943 

The day being fixed for the wedding, the bride's father 
now presents her with a sum of money for her trosseau, 
according to her rank in hfe. A few days previously to the 
wedding, presents are also made to the bride by relations 
and intimate friends, varying in amount and value according 
to their degrees of relationship and friendship — such as 
plate, furniture, jewelry, and articles of ornament, as well 
as of utility, to the newly-married lady in her future station. 
These, together with her wedding dresses, etc., it is 
customary to exhibit to the intimate friends of the bride a 
day or two before her marriage. 

DUTY OF A BRIDEGROOM-ELECT. 

The bridegroom-elect has, on the eve of matrimony, no 
little business to transact. His first care is to look after a 
house suitable for his future home, and then, assisted by 
the taste of his chosen helpmate, to take steps to furnish it 
in a becoming style. He must also, if engaged in business, 
make arrangements for a month's absence ; in fact, bring 
together all matters into a focus, so as to be readily 
manageable when, after the honeymoon, he shall take the 
reins himself. He will do well to burn most of his bachelor 
letters, and to part with, it may be, some few of his 
bachelor connections ; and he should communicate, in an 
easy, informal way, to his acquaintances generally, the close 
approach of so important a change in his condition. Not 
to do this might hereafter lead to inconvenience and cause 
no little annoyance. 

We must now speak of 

BUYING THE RING. 

It is the gentleman's business to buy the ring ; and let 
him take special care not to forget it; for such an awkward 
mistake has frequently happened. The ring should be, we 
need scarcely say, of the very purest gold, but substantial. 
There are three reasons for this : first, that it may not 
break — a source of great trouble to the young wife; 



944 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

secondly, that it may not slip off the finger without being- 
missed — few husbands being pleased to hear that their 
wives have lost their wedding rings ; and thirdly, that it 
may last out the lifetime of the loving recipient, even should 
that life be protracted to the extreme extent. To get the 
right size required is not one of the least interesting of 
the delicate mysteries of love. A not unusual method is to 
get a sister of the fair one to lend one of the lady's rings to 
enable the jeweler to select the proper size. Care must be 
taken, however, that it is not too large. Some audacious 
suitors, rendered bold by their favored position, have been 
even known presumptuously to try the ring on the patient 
finger of the bride-elect ; and it has rarely happened in 
such cases that the ring has been refused, or sent back to 
be changed. 

\/HO SHOULD BE ASKED TO THE WEDDING. 

The wedding should take place at the house of the 
bride's parents or guardians. The parties who ought to 
be asked are the father and mother of the gentleman, the 
brothers and sisters (their wives and husbands also, if mar- 
ried), and indeed the immediate relations and favored 
friends of both parties. Old family friends on the bride's 
side should also receive invitations — the rationale or orig- 
inal intention of this wedding assemblage being to give 
publicity to the fact that the bride is leaving her paternal 
home with the consent and approbation of her parents. 

On this occasion the bridegroom has the privilege of 
asking any friends he may choose to the wedding; but no 
friend has a right to feel affronted at not being invited, 
since, were all the friends on either side assembled, the 
wedding breakfast would be an inconveniently crowded 
reception rather than an impressive ceremonial. It is, how- 
ever, considered a matter of friendly attention on the part 
of those who cannot be invited, to be present at the cere- 
mony in the church. 



\ 
ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 945 

WHO SHOULD BE BRIDESMAIDS. 

The bridesmaids should include the unmarried sisters 
of the bride ; but it is considered an anomaly for an elder 
sister to perform this function. The pleasing novelty for 
several years past of an addition to the number of brides- 
maids, varying from two to eight, and sometimes more, has 
added greatly to the interest in weddings, the bride being 
thus enabled to diffuse a portion of her own happiness 
among the most intimate of her younger friends. One 
lady is always appointed principal bridesmaid, and has the 
bride in her charge ; it is also her duty to take care that 
the other bridesmaids have the wedding favors in readi- 
ness. On the second bridesmaid devolves, with her prin- 
cipal, the duty of sending out the cards ; and on the third 
bridesmaid, in conjunction with the remaining beauties of 
her choir, the onerous office of attending to certain minis- 
trations and mysteries connected with the wedding cake. 

OF THE BRIDEGROOMSMEN. 

It behooves a bridegroom to be exceedingly particular 
in the selection of the friends who, as groomsmen, are to 
be his companions and assistants on the occasion of his 
wedding. Their number is limited to that of the brides- 
maids ; one for each. It is unnecessary to add that very 
much of the social pleasure of the day will depend on their 
proper mating. Young and unmarried they must be, hand- 
some they should be, good-humored they cannot fail to be, 
well dressed they will of course take good care to be. Let 
the bridegroom diligently con over his circle of friends, and 
select the comeliest and the pleasantest fellows for his own 
train. The principal bridegroomsman, styled his "best 
man," has, for the day, the special charge of the bride- 
groom ; and the last warning we would give him is, to take 
care that, when the bridegroom puts on his wedding waist- 
coat, he does not omit to put the wedding ring into the 
corner of the left-hand pocket. The dress of a groomsman 



946 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

should be light and elegant ; a dress coat, formerly consid- 
ered indispensable, is no longer adopted. 

ETIQUETTE OF A WEDDING. 

The parties being assembled on the wedding morning 
in the drawing-room of the residence of the bride's father 
(unless, as sometimes happens, the breakfast is spread in 
that room), the happy cortege should proceed to the church 
in the following order: — 

In the first carriage, the bride's mother and the parents 
of the bridegroom. 

In the second and third carriages, bridesmaids. 

Other carriages with the bride's friends. 

In the last carriage, the bride and her father. 

COSTUME OF THE BRIDE. 

A bride's costume should be white, or some hue as close 
as possible to it. 

COSTUME OF THE BRIDEGROOM. 

Formerly it was not considered to be in good taste for a 
o-entleman to be married in a black coat. More latitude is 
now allowed in the costume of a bridegroom, the style now 
adopted being what is termed morning dress ; a frock coat; 
light trousers, white waistcoat, ornamental tie, and white or 
gray gloves. 

THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY. 

The bridegroom stands at the right hand of the bride. 
The father stands just behind her, so as to be in readiness 
to give her hand at the proper moment to the bridegroom. 
The principal bridesmaid stands on the left of the bride, 
ready to take off the bride's gloves, which she keeps as a 
perquisite and prize of her of her office. 

THE WORDS "l will" 

are to be pronounced distinctly and audibly by both parties, 
such being the all-important part of the ceremony as respects 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 94; 

themselves ; the public delivery, before the priest, by the 
father of his daughter to the bridegroom, being an evidence 
of his assent ; the silence which follows the inquiry for "cause 
or just impediment" testifying that of society in general ; 
and the " I will" being the declaration of the bride and bride- 
groom that they are voluntary parties to their holy union 
in marriage. 

AFTER THE CEREMONY 

the clergyman usually shakes hands with the bride and bride- 
groom, and the bride's father and mother, and a general 
congratulation ensues. 

THE RETURN HOME. 

The bridegroom now leads the bride out of the church, 
and the happy pair return homeward in the first carriage. 
The father and mother follow in the next. The rest "stand 
not on the order of their going," but start off in such wise 
as they can best contrive. 

THE WEDDING BREAKFAST. 

The bride and bridegroom sit together at the center of 
the table, in front of the wedding cake, the clergyman who 
performed the ceremony taking his place opposite to them. 
The top and bottom of the table are occupied by the father 
and mother of the bride. The principal bridesmaid sits to 
the left of the bride, and the principal bridegroomsman on the 
left of the bridegroom. It may not be unnecessary to say 
that it is customary for the ladies to wear their bonnets just 
as they came from the church. The bridesmaids cut the cake 
into small pieces, which are not eaten until the health of the 
bride is proposed. This is usually done by the officiating 
clergyman, or by an old and cherished friend of the family 
of the bridegroom. The bridegroom returns thanks for the 
bride and for himself. The health of the bride's parents is 
then proposed, and is followed by those of the principal per- 
sonages present, the toast of the bridesmaids being generally 



948 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

one of the pleasantest features of the festal ceremony. After 
about two hours, the principal bridesmaid leads the bride out 
of the room as quietly as possible, so as not to disturb the 
party or attract attention. Shortly after — it may be about 
be about ten minutes — the absence of the bride being noticed, 
the rest of the ladies retire. Then it is that the bridegroom 
has a few melancholy moments to bid adieu to his bachelor 
friends, and he then generally receives some hints on the 
subject in a short address from one of them, to which he is 
of course expected to respond. He then withdraws for a 
few moments, and returns after having made a slight addition 
to his toilet, in readiness for traveling. 

DEPARTURE FOR THE HONEYMOON. 

The young bride, divested of her bridal attire, and 
quietly costumed for the journey, now bids farewell to her 
bridesmaides and lady friends. A few tears spring to her 
gentle eyes as she takes a last look at the home she is now 
leaving. The servants venture to crowd about her with 
their humble but hearfelt congratulations ; finally, she falls 
weeping on her mother's bosom. A short cough is heard, 
as of some one summoning up resolution to hide emotion. 
It is her father. He dares not trust his voice ; but holds 
out his hand, gives her an affectionate kiss, and then leads 
her, half turning back, down the stairs and through the hall, 
to the door, where he delivers her as a precious charge to 
her husband, who hands her quickly into the carriage, 
springs in after her, waves his hand to the party who appear 
crowding at the window, half smiles at the throng about the 
door, then, amidst a shower of old slippers — missiles of 
good-luck sent flying after the happy pair — gives the word, 
and they are off, and started on the long-hoped-for voyage. 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 949 



Practical Advice to a Newly-Married Couple 



Our advise to the husband will be brief. Let him have 
no concealments from his wife, but remember that their in- 
terests are mutual ; that, as she must suffer the pains of 
every loss, as well as share the advantage of every success, 
in his career in life, she has therefore a right to know the 
risks she may be made to undergo. We do not say that it 
is necessary, or advisable, or even fair, to harass a wife's 
mind with the details of business ; but where a change of 
circumstances — ^not for the better — is anticipated or risked, 
let her by all means be made acquainted with the fact in 
good time. Many a kind husband almost breaks his young 
wife's fond heart by an alteration in his manner, which she 
cannot but detect, but from ignorance of the cause very 
probably attributes to a wrong motive ; while he, poor fel- 
low, all the while out of .pure tenderness, is endeavoring to 
conceal from her tidings — which must come out at last — 
of ruined hopes or failure in speculation ; whereas, had she 
but known the danger beforehand, she would have alleviated 
his fears on her account, and by cheerful resignation have 
taken out half the sting of his disappointment. Let no man 
think lightly of the opinion of his wife in times of difficulty. 
Women have generally more acutensss of perception than 
men ; and in moments of peril, or in circumstances that in- 
volve a crisis or turning-point in life, they have usually more 
resolution and greater instinctive judgment. 

We recommend that every husband from the first should 
make his wife an allowance for ordinary household 
expenses — which he should pay weekly or monthly — ^and 
for the expenditure of which he should not, unless for some 
urgent reason, call her to account. A tolerably sure guide 
in estimating the amount of this item, which does not 
include rent, taxes, servants' wages, coals, or candles, etc., 
is to remember that in a small, middle-class family, not 



95C THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

exceedingyb?/^, the expense of each person lor ordinary 
food amounts to fifteen shillings weekly ; beyond that num- 
ber to ten shillings weekly for each extra person, servant 
or otherwise. This estimate does not, of course, provide 
for wine or food of a luxurious kind. The largest establish- 
ment, indeed, may be safely calculated on the same scale. 

A wife should also receive a stated allowance for dress, 
within which limit she ought always to restrict her expense. 
Any excess of expenditure under this head should be left to 
the considerate kindness of her husband to concede. Noth- 
ing is more contemptible than for a woman to have perpetu- 
ally to ask her husband for small sums for housekeeping 
expenses — nothing more annoying and humiliating than to 
have to apply to him always for money for her own private 
use- — nothing more disgusting than to see a man "molly- 
coddling" about marketing, and rummaging about for cheap 
articles of all kinds. 

Let the husband beware, when things go wrong with 
him in business affairs, of venting his bitter feelings of disap- 
pointment and despair in the presence of his wife and fam- 
ily; feelings which, while abroad, he finds it practicable to 
restrain. It is as unjust as it is impolitic to indulge in such 
a habit. 

A wife, having married the man she loves above all 
others, must be expected in her turn to pay some court to 
him. Before marriage she has, doubtless, been made his 
idol. Every moment he could spare, and perhaps many 
more than he could properly so appropriate, have been 
devoted to her. How anxiously has he not revolved in his 
mind his worldly chances of making her happy! How often 
has he not had to reflect, before he made the proposal of 
marriage, whether he should be acting dishonorably towards 
her by incurring the risk, for the selfish motive of his own 
gratification, of placing her in a worse position than the one 
she occupied at home! And still more than this, he must 
have had to consider with anxiety the probability of having 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 95 1 

to provide for an increasing family, with all its concomitant 
expenses. 

We say, then, that being married, and the honeymoon 
over, the husband must necessarily return to his usual occu- 
pations, which will, in all probability, engage the greater 
part of his thoughts, for he will now be desirous to have it in 
his power to procure various little indulgences for his wife's 
sake which he never would have dreamed of for his own. 
He comes to his home weary and fatigued ; his young wife 
has had but her pleasures to gratify, or the quiet routine of 
her domestic duties to attend to, while he has been toiling 
through the day to enable her to gratify these pleasures and 
to fulfill these duties. Let, then, the dear, tired husband, at 
the close of his daily labors, be made welcome by the endear- 
ments of his loving spouse — let him be free from the care of 
having to satisfy the caprices of a petted wife. Let her now 
take her turn in paying those many little love-begotten atten- 
tions which married men look for to soothe them — let her 
reciprocate that devotion to herself, which, from the early 
hours of their love, he cherished for her, by her ever-ready 
endeavors to make him happy and his home attractive. 

In the presence of other persons, however, married 
people should refrain from fulsome expressions of endear- 
ment to each other, the use of which, although a common 
practice, is really a mark of bad taste. It is desirable also 
to caution them against adopting the too prevalent vulgar- 
ism of calling each other, or indeed any person whatever, 
merely by the initial letter of their surname. 

A married woman should always be very careful how 
she receives personal compliments. She should never court 
them, nor ever feel flattered by them, whether in her hus- 
band's presence or not. If in his presence, they can hardly 
fail to be distasteful to him ; if in his absence, a lady, by a 
dignified demeanor, may always convince an assiduous ad- 
mirer that his attentions are not well received, and at once 
and forever stop all familiar advances. In case of insult, a 



952 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

wife should immediately make her husband acquainted 
therewith ; as the only chance of safety to a villain lies in 
the concealment of such things by a lady, from dread of 
consequences to her husband. From that moment he has 
her at advantage, and may very likely work on deliberately 
to the undermining of her character. He is thus enabled 
to play upon her fears, and taunt her with their mutual 
secret and its concealment, until she maybe involved, guile- 
lessly, in a web of apparent guilt, from which she can never 
extricate herself without risking the happiness of her future 
life. 

Not the least useful piece of advice — homely though it 
be — that we can offer to newly-married ladies, is to remind 
them that husbands are men, and that men must eat. We 
can tell them, moreover, that men attach no small import- 
ance to this very essential operation, and that a very effect- 
ual way to keep them in good humor, as well as good 
condition, is for wives to study their husbands' peculiar 
likes and dislikes in this matter. Let the wife try, there- 
fore, if she have not already done so, to get up a little 
knowledge of the art of ordering dinner, to say the least 
of it. This task, if she be disposed to learn it, will in time 
be easy enough ; moreover, if, in addition, she should ac- 
quire some practical knowledge of cookery, she will find 
ample reward in the gratification it will be the means of 
affording her husband. 

Servants are difficult subjects for a young wife to handle ; 
she generally either spoils them by indulgence, or ruins 
them by finding fault unfairly. At last they either get the 
better of her, or she is voted too bad for them. The art 
lies in steady command and management of yourself as well 
as them. 

An observance of the few following rules will in all 
probability insure a life of domestic harmony, peace, and 
comfort : — 

To hear as little as possible whatever is to the prejudice 



ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MATRIMONY. 953 

of otners ; to believe nothing of the kind until you are 
compelled to admit the truth of it ; never to take part in 
the circulation ol evil report and idle gossip ; always to 
moderate, as far as possible, harsh and unkind expressions 
reflecting upon others ; always to believe that if the other 
side were heard, a very different account might be given of 
the matter. 

In conclusion, we say emphatically to the newly-wedded 
wife, that attention to these practical hints will prolong her 
honeymoon throughout the whole period of wedded life, 
and cause her husband, as each year adds to the sum of his 
happiness, to bless the day when he first chose her as the 
nucleus round which he might consolidate the inestimable 
blessings of home. 

" How fair is home, in fancy's pictured theme. 
In wedded life, in love's romantic dream! 
Thence springs each hope, there every spring returns, 
Pure as the flame that upward, heavenward burns; 
There sits the wife, whose radiant smile is given — 
The daily sun of the domestic heaven; 
And when calm evening sheds a secret power. 
Her looks of love imparadise the hour; 
While children round, a beauteous train, appear, 
Attendant stars, revolving in her sphere." 

— Holland's " Hopes of Matrimony." 



Golden Rules of Etiquette. 



V ijRUE politeness is merely the practical observance, in 
«-^ small matters, of the "golden rule:" Not to offend 
the tastes of another ; not to annoy him ; not to place self 
before our neighbor, are the basis of all etiquette. 

2. State your opinions plainly and mildly. Never talk 
loudly, nor make broad sweeping, assertions. 



954 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

3. Never offer to back up an opinion with a bet. Of 
course no gentleman will be guilty of the rudeness of an 
oath. 

4. Always show a deference to age. 

5. Never contradict any one flatly ; always beg leave, 
smilingly, not sarcastically, to differ with them. 

6. Never anticipate a slight, nor be ever ready to take 
one. 

7. Above all, never give way to abusive argument or a 
quarrel. 

8. Loud laughter and slang phrases are the wit and 
humor of the jockey and the clown. No lady or gentleman 
can afford to use them. 



Things to Avoid. 

1. The most despicable figure in society is that of the 
coarse, purse-proud man or woman, who depends solely 
upon money for standing and consideration. Next to these, 
if not in the same rank, is the vulgar creature who knows 
everything. 

2. Never volunteer an opinion, nor try to monopolize 
the conversation. 

3. It is not necessary to be foppish in order to be neat. 
The fop is as far at one extreme as the slouch is at the 
other. 

4. Dress quietly, but let the material be rich ; never 
dress loudly, and avoid much jewelry. 

5. Never wear plated ornaments nor imitation gems. 

6. Never whisper in company, nor attempt to monopo- 
lize the attention of a person. 

7. Abstruse subjects, professional topics, religion and 
politics should be avoided. "The shop," as the English 
designate business affairs, should never enter into social 
conversation. 



GOLDEN RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 955 

8. Indulge but seldom in quotation ; never in innuendo, 
insinuation or punning-. 

9. Avoid all satire and sneering — the devil is painted 
always with a sneer upon his lips. 

10. Never flatter, nor volunteer advice. 

11. Never talk scandal. 

12. Never laugh at you own jokes 

13. Never correct an error, misquotation nor other mis- 
take of any one. 

14. Never interrupt a conversation without good cause, 
and always apologize for so doing 

15. To inveigh against religion, or the nationality or 
sentiments of any one, is the very worst of taste. 

16. Sit or stand at your ease; avoid lolling, h.tching 
about, playing with your chain or other part of your 
clothing. 

17. Be cool, quiet and collected ; avoid haste and worry. 

18. The drawing-room comedian is the silliest of the 
silly. Buffoonery should be left to professional clowns. 

19. Never exaggerate nor use highly-colored adjectives. 

20. Never attempt to "show off." 

21. Never bring in such sentences as " When I was in 
Rome," or " One day in Paris," etc. 

22. Never make yourself the hero of the adventures you 
relate. It is homely but wise advise never to "blow your 
own bugle." 

23. If your opinion is asked on some subject with which 
you are familiar, give it modestly, not as though it were 
infallible. 

24. The practical joke is both low and cruel ; no gentle- 
man or lady would think of indulging in one. 

25. Never use any foreign language, not understood by 
the company, unless there should be some one of that nation 
present who does not understand English. 

26. Never, as it is termed, "take the word out of any 
one's mouth." Be patient, and in due time, no doubt, he 



956 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

who is speaking will find the word or phase for which he is 
seeking. 

27. Never utter a remark that you think may offend any 
other of the company. 

28. Avoid all profanity and coarse language. 

29. Avoid appealing to others to prove your assertions. 



gpecial Rules of G^'<l"®tt®. 



1. Be cool, quiet and self-possessed in all situations. 

2. When you enter a room, bow to all therein. You 
can afterwards more particularly salute your friends. 

3. Never go into company with soiled clothing; use no 
musk, and remove all offensive odors from clothes and 
person. 

4. " Cleanliness is next to godliness," and is one of the 
cardinal points of good breeding. 

5. Be courteous to all ladies, whatever may be their rank. 

6. Gentlemen never cast slurs upon the softer sex, and 
he is churlish, as well as ill-bred, who maligns woman in 
general. 

7. Shakspeare gives many excellent general rules for 
social government, amongst them : " Be thou familiar, but 
by no means vulgar," showing that even among friends, 
intimacy should not degenerate into vulgar disregard of all 
conventionalities. 

8. Beware of sudden familiarities. 

9. Your dress should be of as rich materials as you can 
afford, but not flashy. In cut and color it should be quiet 
and modest. 

10. Be prompt in keeping engagements and punctual in 
meeting all obligations. 

11. Avoid borrowing or lending. No man can be inde- 
pendent and but few honest when in debt. 



SPECIAL RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 957 

12. In speaking- of friends and acquaintances to others, 
no matter how intimate, give them the prefix of Mr., Miss 
or Mrs., as the case demands. 

13. Avoid sneering and sarcasm. 

14. Be not witty at the expense of another; no humor 
is permissible but that which is perfectly innocent. 

15. Punning is a weak apology for wit, and should be 
eschewed. 

16. Never look over anyone's shoulder while reading a 
book, paper or letter. 

17. Never search through a card basket or an album 
unless invited. 

18. Do not be ashamed to tender an apology, if in the 
wrong. Always accept one with gentle courtesy. 

19. If a secret is entrusted to you, never reveal it ; it is 
neither honorable nor honest to give away that which is 
not yours. 

20. Exaggeration is foolish. If you must speak, speak 
the truth. 

21. Never display any form of curiosity; it is a despic- 
able trait of character to be curious about things that do 
not concern you. 

22. Never flatter, A deHcate compliment may be inno- 
cently offered and well received, but flattery is odious. 

23. Do not whisper in society, and avoid signaling to 
friends in company. 

24. Avoid the use of languages unknown to the gener- 
ality of the company. 

25. Never be dogmatic, nor make dictatorial assertions. 

26. In entering a house, even your own, always remove 
your hat, and do not be boisterous or restless. 

27. It is better to have no associations than to have evil 
ones. Good books or good thoughts are better than evil 
companions. 

28. Avoid all profanity, loud talking and boisterous 
merriment. 



95^ THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

29. Never back your opinions with an oath or a bet. 

30. At the brealcfast table, poHtely salute all assembled, 
if it be the first time of meeting for that day. A cheerful 
"good morning" should be passed between the members 
of the home circle. 

31. Of course, no gentleman will chew tobacco in a 
church, parlor, or in the presence of ladies. 

32. Be natural. Avoid eccentricity and affection. 
;^^. Do not ape any one. 

34. Your room is the place for making your toilet. Do 
not arrange your clothing in company. 

35. In company avoid paring or cleaning your nails, 
picking your teeth, scratching your head, etc. 

36. Be not egotistical nor pompous. These faults would 
cloud the most brilliant genius ; how much more so mere 
ordinary mortals. 

37. Volunteer your aid to any lady in distress, or to an 
invalid or aged person. 

38. You cannot afford to let one beneath you in station 
exceed you in politeness. Be courteous to every one. 

39. Boast of nothing ; especially not of your wealth, 
since that is the least qualification of a gentleman. 

40. A wife or husband should speak respectfully of each 
other, and should be mentioned as Mr. — — , or Mrs. % 

41. Ostentation is silly and vulgar. 

42. Never make your ailments or your troubles a topic 
of conversation, but treat sympathetically those that do, 

43. Never contradict in a rude manner. Always point 
out a mistake with gentle courtesy. 

44. Never soil or mark a book that has been lent to 
you. Return it in good order ; and, if unavoidably injured, 
return it, and a fresh copy also 

45. Never correct a person in grammar, deportment, or 
in a mistake that does not implicate you in a wrong. 

46. Never remark upon the personal deformity or men- 
tal peculiarities of acquaintances. 



SPECIAL RULES OF ETIQUETtE. 959 

47. Upon the street, the lady must first recognize the 
gentleman. 

48. In dancing, gloves should always be worn. 

49. You have no right to forget an engagement. To 
do so without a prompt and ample apology is equivalent to 
an insult. 

50. A promise made must be carried out, if possible at 
any cost. 

51. No lady ever sneers at, or comments upon, the 
dress of another in the streets. 

52. Avoid all slang and florid adjectives. The conver- 
sation, like the manners and morals, should be quiet, 
chaste, and simple. 

53. Learn to say "No," to all evil invitations and 
promptings ; the true gentleman should be courageous as 
well as kind. 

54. No amount of learning, wit and genius can atone 
for coarseness and ill-breeding. 

55. Depend neither on wit, wealth, nor raiment for your 
status in society. 



George Washington's One Hundred Rules of Life 
Government. 

But few men display, as did the "Father of his Country, " 
the varied talents of the soldier, the statesman, the farmer, 
and the man of business, and if the code of self-government 
which he is said to have prescribed to himself at the early 
■age of thirteen, had anything to do with his success — and 
no doubt it did — it is certainly worthy of the deep consid- 
eration of all. 

1. Every action in company ought to be some sign of 
respect to those present. 

2. In the presence of others sing not to yourself with a 
humming noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet. 



960 THE PRACTICAL HOME PARMER. 

3. Speak not when others speak, sit not when others 
stand, and walk not when others stop. 

4. Turn not your back to others, especially in speak- 
ing. 

5. Be no flatterer ; neither trifle with any one that 
does not delight in such familiarities. 

6. Read no letters, books or papers, in company ex- 
cept when necessary ; then ask to be excused. 

7. Come not near the books or writing of any one so 
as to read them unasked. 

8. Let your countenance be pleasant ; but in serious 
matters somewhat grave. 

9. Show hot yourself glad at the misfortunes of another, 
though he were your enemy. 

10. They that are in dignity or office have in all 
places precedency ; but whilst they are young they ought to 
respect those that are their equals in birth or other quali- 
ties, though they have no public charge. 

11. It is good manners to prefer those to whom we 
speak before ourselves, especially if they be above us — - 
with whom in no sort should we take the lead. 

1 3. Let your discourse with men of business be short 
and comprehensive. 

13. In writing or speaking give to every one his due 
title, according to his degree and the custom of the place. 

14. Strive not with your superiors in argument, but 
always submit your judgment to others with modesty. 

15. When a man does all he can, though it succeeds not 
well, blame not him that did it. 

16. It being necessary to advise or reprehend any one, 
consider whether it ought to be done in public or in private, 
presently or at some other time, also in what terms to 
do it. 

17. In reproving anyone, do it with no sign of choler, 
but with sweetness and mildness. 

18. Mock not, nor jest at anything of importance. 



SPECIAL RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 961 

19. Break no jests that are sharp and biting. 

20. Laugh not at your own wit. 

21. Wherein you reprove another be unblamable your- 
self, for example is more impressive than precept. 

22. Use no vituperative language against any one. 

23. Avoid all blasphemy. 

24. Be not hasty to believe disparaging reports against 
any one. 

25. Avoid all gossip and scandal. 

26. In your dress be modest. Affect nothing singular 
or unusual. 

27. Go to no extreme of fashion ; be well, but not 
gaudily dressed. 

28. Play not the peacock, looking about on every side 
to see if you be well decked. 

29. Never play with your dress in company, nor look 
at yourself to see if your clothes fit, or if they be awry. 

30. Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you 
esteem your own reputation. 

31. It is better to be alone than in evil company. 

32. Let your conversation be without malice or 
envy. 

2^. When angry, beware of haste ; give reason time to 
resume her sway. 

34. Do not urge any one to discover to you his 
secrets. 

35. To reveal the secrets of another is base and dis- 
honest. 

36. Do not tell extravagant or marvelous stories. 

^y. Utter not base and frivolous things amongst grown 
or learned men. 

38. Do not discourse on learned subjects to the ignor- 
ant ; neither use obscure words or language in conversation 
with them. 

39. Speak not of doleful things in time of mirth, nor at 

the table. Never speak of melancholy things at inappro- 

61 



962 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

priate times ; of death and wounds ; and if others mention 
them, change, if you can, the discourse. 

40. If you must tell your dreams, do so only to intimate 
friends. 

4 1 . Break not a jest when none take pleasure in mirth. 

42. Laugh not loudly, nor at all without occasion. 

43. Do not talk loudly, nor exhibit a boisterous de- 
meanor. 

44. Deride no man's misfortunes, though there seems 
to be cause to do so ; neither laugh at the calamity of any 
one. 

45. Speak not injurious words, neither in jest nor 
in earnest ; scoff at none, even tho.ugh they give occasion. 

46. Be not forward, but friendly and courteous. 

47. Salute all who pay you that courtesy ; hear and an- 
swer politely. 

48. During a conversation, affect not sad and pensive 
airs or abstraction. 

49. Neither detract from others, nor be excessive in 
commending. 

50. Go not where you are doubtful of a welcome. 

51. Give no advice without being asked ; then let it be 
brief. 

52. When two are contending, taKe not the oart of 
either. 

53. In indifferent matters, go with the majority. 

54. Do not presume to correct the mistakes of others ; 
that is the privilege of parents, masters and superiors. 

55. Gaze not rudely on any one ; neither note their de- 
formities or peculiarities. 

56. Do not use any foreign tongue in company, except 
to one ignorant of English. 

57. Liet your conversation be modest, ana your lang- 
uage that of good society. 

58. Speak plainly ; do not drawl out your words, nor 
speak through your nose. 



SPECIAL RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 963 

59. Treat solemn and sacred things with reverence. 

60. Let your conversation indicate thought ; silence is 
better than idle talk. 

61. When another is speaking, be attentive. Should 
he hesitate for words, do not supply them. Never inter- 
rupt another while talking. 

62. Select the proper time to talk upon any kind of 
business. 

63. Never whisper in the company of others. 

64. Make no odious comparisons. 

65. Should you hear any one commended for any act, 
commend not another for the same or a greater action. 

66. Be not curious to learn the affairs of others. 

67. Never intrude yourself upon others that speak in 
private. 

68. Undertake not what you cannot perform ; make no 
promises you cannot fulfill. 

69. Never attempt in an argument to bully others ; give 
to every one perfect liberty in expressing himself, and 
always be willing to submit to the majority. 

70. Be not tedious in discourse ; make not many digres- 
sions, nor repeat the same tales. 

71. Speak not ill of the absent ; it is both cowardly and 
unjust. 

72. Let all your pleasures be pure and manly. 

73. Neither speak nor laugh when your superiors are 
talking ; listen respectfully and without impatience. Never 
be angry at the table ; if annoyed, conceal your vexation, 
lest others, too, be made unhappy. 

74. Jog not the table or desk at which another is read- 
ing or writing. 

75. Lean not on any one, nor slap fiends and acquaint- 
ances on the back or shoulder. 

76. Affect not singularity in dress, manner or conver- 
sation. 

77. Avoid many and extravagant adjectives. 



964 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

78. Never look on when another is reading or writing. 

79. Avoid sudden friendships. 

80. Distrust those that protest vehemently. 

81. Make no friendships with silly or evil persons. 

82. Never seem to indorse any one that is disrepu- 
table. 

83. is best to avoid association with those who show 
any disrespect for old age. 

84. Observe the customs of those older and wiser than 
yourself. 

85. Avoid becoming a borrower or lender of money. 

86. Never do any action of which you have not well 
studied the consequences. 

87. Be neither prodigal nor miserly ; avoid both 
extremes. 

88. A good listener is more esteemed by all than a 
CTood talker. 

89. Avoid all vulgar ostentation ; do nothing for show. 

90. Be upright in all dealings. 

91. Never be outdone in courtesy or politeness. 

92. Live temperately, but be not ascetic. 

83. Avoid hypocrisy ; never seem to be what you 
are not. 

84. Avoid fanaticism and be not dictatorial nor too 
positive. 

95. Never oppress nor deride those weaker, poorer or 
more ignorant than you;self 

96. Avoid all games of chance, especially with those 
who make a proposition of cards or dice. 

97. Never attempt to make good an assertion with a 
wager. 

98. Live not only honestly, but honorably ; be chaste, 
moral and correct in all things. 

99. Obey your parents in all things. 

100. Revile not religion ; when you speak of God, His 
works or attributes, do so reverently, and in church let your 
conduct be serious and solemn. 



Tbg Rucgsgf Dgi^ktg. 



Public Meetings. 



/TTV PUBLIC meeting is the assemblage of a portion of 
A^^ the people, for the expression of opinion upon matters 
of local or general concern. The proceedings are but few 
and simple ; yet, to preserve order during its session, and 
to give effect to its action, the meeting has to be guided by 
defined rules from the time of its projection to the moment 
of its close. • 

A Democratic Meeting! 



The citizens of Blank, in favor of the policy of the 
Democratic party, are requested to meet on Saturday even- 
ing, September 9th, at the house of Jasper Clyde, Bridge 
street, at 7 o'clock, to take such measures as are deemed 
advisable to promote the success of the party in the coming 
election. 

The notice is also published in the county newspaper, 
should there be one. 

Meanwhile, the proposers of the affair, either after a 
caucus or individually, obtain the consent of some speaker, 
say a Mr. Joseph Becker, to be present and give his views 
on public topics. In that case, the advertisement closes 
with an announcement like this : 

"A. B., Esq., has accepted an invitation to address the 
meeting." 

The projectors meanwhile meet in caucus, and agree 
upon officers. They select for chairman Mr. Charles 
Kendrick, an old resident and a man of standing, and Mr. 
John Travers, to act as secretary, and these gentlemen 

consent to take the positions assigned them. 

96s 



966 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

When the evening comes, and the meeting has 
assembled, no business is begun until half an hour after the 
hour named. This interval is called "thirty minutes' 
grace," and is always allowed; through custom, for the 
difference in watches. 

Ax. yyi, o'clock, Mr. William Irwin steps forward and 
says: 

" The meeting will please come to order." 

Every one hereupon suspends conversation, and, as 
soon as all is quiet, Mr. Irwin continues: 

" I move that Mr. Charles Kendrick act as Resident of 
this meeting." 

Mr. Parke Neville says : 

"I second the motion." 

Then Mr. Irwin puts the question thus : 

" It has been moved and seconded that Mr. Charles 
Kendrick act as president of this meeting. So many as are 
in favor of the motion will signify their assent by saying 
aye! 

As soon as those in the affirmative have voted, he will 
say: 

" Those who are opposed, will say ' no! '" 

If there are more ayes than noes, as there will be, unless 
Mr. Kendrick be very unpopular indeed, he will say : 

" The ayes have it. The motion is carried. Mr. 
Kendrick will take the chair." 

If, on the country, the noes prevail, he will say : 

" The noes have it. The motion is lost." 

Thereupon he will nominate some other, or put the 
question upon other nominations. 

As soon as a chairman is chosen, he will take his place 
Mr. Thomas Turbot then says: 

" I move that Mr. John Travers act as secretary of this 
meeting." 

This motion is seconded, and the chairman puts the 
question and declares the result. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 967 

The form of putting the question to the chairman may 
be simpHfied thus : 

" Mr. Charles Kendrick has been nominated as president 
of this meeting. Those in favor, will say ' aye ! ' — Contrary 
opinion, 'no ! ' " 

The meeting is now organized. The chairman will direct 
the secretary to read the call. When that has been done, he 
will say : 

" You have heard the call under which we have assembled ; 
what is your further pleasure.''" 

Hereupon, Mr. John Smith says : 

" I move that a committee of three be appointed to draft 
resolutions expressive of the sense of this meeting." 

This is seconded. 

The chairman then says : 

"Gentlemen, you have heard the motion ; are you ready 
for the question ?" 

If any one desires to speak against the resolution, he 
arises and says : 

"Mr. Chairman !" 

The chairmrn turns toward the speaKer, and listens to 
him, and so to each in succession. When they are all done, 
or in case no one responds to the call, he puts the question 
in the customary form previously given, and declares the 
result. 

The resolution being adopted, the chairman says : 

"How shall that committee be appointed .'"' 

If there be no reply, or a reply of "chair, " the chairman 
names the mover of the resolution and two others as a 
committee. The committee withdraws to prepare the reso- 
lutions, or to examine those previously prepared for the 
purpose. 

During the absence of the committee is the proper time 
for the speaker or speakers to address the meeting. When 
the speeches are over, the chairman of the committee comes 
forward and says : 



968 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

"Mr. Chairman, the committee begs leave to report the 
following resolutions :" 

He then reads the resolutions, and hands them to the 
secretary. 

The chairman now says : 

"You have heard the report of the committee; what 
order do you take on it ?" 

Some one now moves that the report be accepted, and 
the resolutions be adopted. To save time, the chairman 
will put the question solely on the adoption of the resolu- 
tions If no objection is made, and no amendment offered, 
he will put the question, and declare the result. 

As a general thing, a committee may be avoided, as a 
useless formality, and the resolutions be offered by one of 
the projectors of the meeting. 

So soon as the resolutions are adopted, and the speeches 
are over, the chairman should ask : 

"What is the further pleasure of this meeting ?" 

If there be no further business, some one moves an ad- 
journment. The chairman does not ask if the meeting be 
ready for the question, since an adjournment is not debat- 
able, but puts the question direct. If carried, he says : 

"This meeting stands adjourned without day." 

If the meeting thinks proper to adjourn to meet at 
another time, the time is fixed by a previous resolution, and 
then, when it adjourns, the chairman declares it adjourned 
to the time fixed upon. 

It will be seen that the foregoing form, by varying the 
call, and changing the business to suit, will answer for any 
other political party, or for any other purpose. 

When a public meeting is called by any executive or other 
committee, the name of the chairman of that commitee should 
be appended to call, and the committee itself should prepare 
business for the action of the meeting, as much as possible. 

The duty of the secretary of a public meeting is merely 
nominal, unless it is desired to publish an account of its pro- 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 969 

ceedings. In the latter case, the record of the foregoing- 
meeting, which is a form for any other meeting, varied under 
the circumstances of the case, would read thus : 

"At a meeting of the Democratic citizens of Blank, held 
pursuant to public notice, on Saturday evening, September 
9th, at 7 o'clock, at the house of Jasper Glyde, Mr. Charles 
Kendrick was called to the chair, and Mr. John Travers 
appointed secretary. 

"On motion of Mr. John Smith, a committee of three, 
consisting of Messrs. John Smith, Henry Magraw, and Casper 
Evans, was appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the 
sense of the meeting. 

" During the absence of the committee, the meeting was 
effectively addressed by Joseph Becker, Esq. 

"The committee, through its chairman, reported the fol- 
lowing resolutions, which were unanimously adopted : 
[Here the secretary inserts the resolutions.] 

"On motion the meeting adjourned." 



Organizing Associations. 



When it is advisable to form a society, club, or other asso- 
ciation, for any specific purpose, those who agree in regard 
to its formation may meet upon private notice or public calL 
The mode of organizing the meeting is similar to that of any 
other. 

As soon as the meeting has been organized, and the chair 
man announces that it is ready to proceed to business, some 
one of the originators, previously agreed upon, should rise, 
and advocate the formation of the club or society required 
for the purpose set forth in the call, and end by moving the 
appointment of a committee to draft a constitution and 
by-laws. This committee should be instructed to report at 
the next meeting. A convenient time of adjournment is fixed 
on, and if there be no further business, the meeting adjourns. 



970 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

• 

When the time for the second meeting arrives, the same 
officers continue, without any new motion. If either be 
absent, his place is suppHed, on motion, by some other. 
The Committee on the Constitution and By-laws reports. 
If the constitution is not acceptable, those present suggest 
amendments. As soon as it has taken the required shape, 
it is adopted, and signed by those present. The by-laws 
are treated in the same way. 

The society is now formed, but not fully organized. The 
officers provided for by the constitution have now to be 
elected. This may be done at that meeting, or the society 
may be adjourned over for that purpose. So soon as it has 
been done, the chairman of the meeting gives way to the 
newly-elected president, or, in his absence, to a vice-presi- 
dent ; the secretary of the meeting vacates his seat, which 
is taken by the newly elected secretary or secretaries, and 
thus the organization of the new body is complete. 



Public Celebrations. 



Public celebrations may be made by some public 
society, or by the citizens at large. If by the latter, a meet- 
ing is generally called, subject to the customary rules, and 
a committee of arrangements appointed, who take charge of 
the business. A society appoints a like committee. 

The committee of arrangements meet, and appoint a 
chairman and secretary. As soon as this is done, the mode 
of celebration is determined upon. In the case of the Fourth 
of July, some fit person is generally invited to deliver an ora- 
tion, and another to read the Declaration of Independence. 
A sub-committee is appointed to secure a proper room, unless 
the celebration takes place in the open air, when the com- 
mittee has in charge the erection of a stand. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 9/1 

The proper sub-committees are: 

1. On correspondence. The duty of this committee is to 
invite such distinguished guests as are desirable. 

2. An orator. This committee invites the orator selected. 

3. On place. This committee attends to hiring a room 
and fitting it up, or, if it be an out-of-door celebration, see 
to the erection of a stand for the officers and speaker, and 
seats for the auditors. 

4. On printing. This committee attends to the neces- 
sary advertising and printing. 

All these report their action to the main committee as it 
adjourns from time to time. 

The day having arrived, at the hour named, the officers 
and speakers being ready, and the audience assembled, the 
chairman of the committee of arrangements calls the meeting 
to order, nominates the president of the day, and puts the 
question on his acceptance. The latter now takes his seat, 
and the other officers are appointed. So soon as this is done, 
a clergyman, if there be one named for the purpose, delivers 
a short prayer. The chairman of the day next announces by 
name the reader of the Declaration, and says : 

" Mr. [naminghim] will read the Declaration of Independ- 
ence." 

The Declaration being read, the chairman says : 

" Mr. [naming him], the orator of the day." 

The orator now comes forward, and delivers his oration, 
at the close of which the exercises are determined, and after 
a benediction, if a clergyman be present, the meeting 
adjourns without any formal motion. 

If a band of music can be had, it is always engaged on 
such an occasion, and plays national and patriotic airs previ- 
ous to the taking the chair, at the close of the proceedings, 
and at the various intervals. 

The public celebratien of their own anniversaries by 
public societies, if done by orations, follows the same form. 



972 THE PRACTIEAL HOME FRRMER. 



Conventions. 

A convention is a number of delegates assembled for the 
purpose of carrying out the views of constituents, and is 
gifted with powers over that of an ordinary meeting. It is 
the legislature of a party ; and, consequendy, is governed 
by the same rules of action, or very nearly, as any other 
legislative body. 

A convention may be called, either by some committee 
gifted with the power, or by invitation of the leading friends 
of a particular cause or measure. The call should contain 
some general directions as to the mode of electing delegates. 

The night before the meeting, it is usual for the friends 
of particular men or measures, among its delegates, to hold 
a caucus, in order to devise the plan of action necessary to 
secure the success of the man or measures they prefer. Here 
they discuss acts and views with a freedom which cannot be 
permitted in open convention, and agree upon their common 
ground on the following day. Part of their proceedings will 
leak out in spite of all precaution ; but care should be taken 
to admit none but those who are friendly, in order that as 
much secrecy as possible may be attained. 

There are two sets of officers in a convention — tempor- 
ary and permanent. The first is merely for the purpose of 
conducting the business preparatory to organization. The 
possession of the permanent president is often a matter of 
great importance when there are two parties in a conven- 
tion. If the temporary president appoints the committee 
which is to nominate permanent officers, it may be important 
to gain him. In that case there is a struggle who shall 
nominate first, and sometimes there are several nominations 
for temporary chairman. To avoid this indecent competition, 
it is usual to give the delegation from each county, district, 
or township, the right to name one member of the committee 
on permanent organization. Until the permanent officers 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 973 

have been chosen, and have taken their seats, none but pre- 
liminary business is to be transacted. 

The whole machinery of a convention resembles that of 
one of the houses of legislature. But a convention for a 
political or social purpose, never formally goes into committee 
of the whole. When there is an interval, and the main body 
is waiting for the report of a committee, or after the business 
is done, and previous to adjournment, it is customary to call 
on various prominent men to address the convention, which 
thus goes into quasi-committee, without the formality of a 
motion. 

Frequently, the permanent chairman of a convention is 
chosen on account of his wealth or position ; but the cus- 
tom is a bad one. A convention is essentially a business 
convocation ; the time of its members is more or less valu- 
able ; and no chairman should be installed unless he is 
familiar with the duties of his position, and capable of con- 
ducting affairs with promptness, dignity, and force. 

It is a custom to give the thanks of the convention to its 
officers, just previous to adjournment. In that case, the 
member who makes the motion puts, himself, the question 
upon its adoption, and declares the result. 



Forms of Constitutions. 



A CONSTITUTION is the formal written agreement making 
the fundamental law which binds the parties who associate. 
In preparation of this, useless words should be avoided. 

The constitution, after having been adopted, should be 
engrossed in a blank book, and signed by the members. 
Amendments or alterations should be entered in the same 
book, with the date of their adoption, in the shape of a copy 
from the minutes ; and a side-note inserted in the margin of 
the constitution, opposite the article amended, showing on 
what page the amendment may be found. 



974 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Lyceums or Institutes. 



Preamble. — Whereas, experience has shown that knowl- 
edge can be more readily acquired by combination of effort 
than singly, we, whose names are hereunto annexed, have 
agreed to form an association to be known as ^lere insert 
titlc\, and for its better government, do hereby establish the 
following constitution : 

Article I. — The name, style, and title of this associa- 
tion shall be \Jiere insert name^, and its objects shall be 
the increase and the diffusion of knowledge among its 
members. 

Arpicle II. — I. The officers of this association shall 
consist of a president, two vice-presidents, a corresponding 
secretary, a recording secretary, a treasurer, a librarian, and 
a curator, who shall be elected annually on [/lere insert time 
of election and tnode, whether by open voice or by baiIot\. 

2. The said officers shall hold their offices until their 
successors shall have been elected ; and their powers and 
duties shall be similar to those of like officers in like asso- 
ciations. 

Article III. — There shall be appointed by the presi- 
dent, immediately after his election, by and with the consent 
of the association, the following standing committees, to 
consist of five members each, namely: on finance, library, 
museum, lectures, and printing, who shall perform such 
duties and take charge of such business as may be assigned 
to them by vote of the association. 

Article IV. — i. Any person residing within [^here state 
limits^ who is above the age of twenty-one years, may 
become a resident member of this association, by consent 
of a majority of the members present at any stated meeting 
succeeding the one at which his name shall have been pro- 
posed ; any person residing without the limits aforesaid 
may be chosen, in like manner, a corresponding member ; 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 975 

and any person who is eminent in science or literature, may 
be elected an honorary member. 

2. Each and every resident member, upon his election, 
shall sign this constitution, and pay over to the recording 
secretary the sum of [^here insert the sum], and shall pay 
the like sum annually in advance ; but no dues or contri- 
butions shall be demanded of corresponding or honorary 
members. 

Article V. — i. This association shall be divided in the 
following sections, namely : i. Natural Science ; 2. Arts; 
3. History ; 4. Agriculture and Horticulture ; 5. Mental 
and Moral Philosophy ; 6. General Literature ; to each of 
which sections shall be referred all papers or business 
appropriate to its department ; and to one or more of these 
sections each member, immediately after his election, shall 
attach himself. 

2. Each section shall report, from time to time, upon the 
business intrusted to it, as this association shall dire:t. 

Article VI. — This association shall meet monthly [/lere 
insert time\, and at such other times as it may be called 
upon by the president, upon the written request of six 
members ; of each of which meetings due notice shall be 
given, and at each and all of these meetings six members 
shall constitue a quorum for the transaction of business. 

Article VII. — The rules of order embraced in " The 
Rules of Debate and Chairman's Assistant," shall govern 
the deliberations of this association so far as the same may 
apply ; and the order of business therein laid down shall 
be followed, unless suspended or transposed by a two- 
thirds vote. 

Article VIII. — Any member who shall be guilty of any 
public, felonious offense against the law, or who shall per- 
severe in a course of conduct degrading of itself or calcu^ 
lated to bring this association into odium, may be expelled 
by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any stated 
meeting ; and any member who shall neglect or rufuse to 



9/6 THE PRACTICAL HOME LARMER. 

pay his dues for more than one year, shall thereby cease to 
be a member of this association ; but no member shall be 
expelled until due notice shall have been given him of the 
charges brought against him, and until he shall have had 
the opportunity of being confronted with his accusers, and 
of being heard in his own defense. 

Article IX. — This constitution may be altered, 
amended, or abrogated, at any stated meeting, by a vote 
of two-thirds of the members present ; provided, that writ- 
ten notice of said alteration, amendment, or abrogation, 
shall have been given at a previous stated meeting. 



Duties of Officers— The Presiding Officer. 



The chairman should have made himself fully acquainted 
with the rules of order and the usages of deliberative bodies. 
He should be prompt, dignified, and impartial. He should 
be quick of eye to note any member who rises, and quick of 
speech to declare him in possession of the floor. He should 
suffer no member to violate order, without instant rebuke. 
His voice should be steady, distinct and clear, so that all 
may hear readily. When he puts the question, states a 
point of order, or otherwise addresses the body, he should 
rise ; and when he has finished, resume his seat. His con- 
stant attention is necessary, and his eye should never 
wander from the speaker before him ; nor should he, in any 
way, show a neglect of the business. No matter what dis- 
turbance may arise, his coolness and temper must be pre- 
served. If his decision be appealed from, she should 
show no resentment — an appeal being a matter of privilege 
— but should put the appeal in the same indifferent manner 
as though it were an ordinary question. He should always 
remember that he has been placed there to guide and con- 
trol the machinery of the moment, and not to give his own 
views, or display his own abilities in an organized associa- 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 977 

tion. He will sign all orders for the payment of money, 
ordered by the body. 

The Recording Officer. 



The secretary or clerk, at the commencement of pro- 
ceedings, will seat himself at his table ; and, at the order 
of the chairman, will read the minutes of the previous meet- 
ing. He must note down the proceedings, and write them 
down in full, previous to another meeting. He must file 
all resolutions and other papers before the body, and allow 
none to go frem his custody without due authority. He 
must read all resolutions and papers, when requested to do 
so by the chair. He must turn over his records and papers 
in good order to his successor on leaving his office. He 
must countersign all orders on the treasurer, which have 
been signed by the president, as this counter-signature is 
the evidence that the society has approved the order. 

The Treasurer. 



The treasurer must enter, in a book to be provided for 
the purpose, all money received, and all payments made, 
on account of the body. He must pay out no money, ex- 
cept on an order, signed by the president, and counter- 
signed by the secretary. He must retain these orders, as 
his vouchers. He must turn over his books, in good order, 
to his successor on leaving his office. He must give bonds 
in such needful sum as it deems best, if the body require. 

The Librarian. 



The librarian will take upon him the charge of the 
books and manuscript not pertaining to the duties of other 
officers. Of these he must keep a catalogue. He must 



ej 



978 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Iceep a record of all books borrowed, by whom and when 
returned ; and must only loan them under such regulations 
as the body see fit to adopt. He must turn over his cata- 
logue and records to his successor oij leaving his office. 



The Curators. 



The curators will take charge of all specimens of nature 
or art, or otherwise, and all property of the body, not in 
charge of other officers. This they will have catalogued, 
and will keep it under such restrictions as may be imposed 
on them by the main body. They must turn over their 
catalogue papers and property to their successors on leav- 
ing theii office. 



The Committee on Correspondence. 



The committee will take charge of all correspondence 
ordered by the body, and if there be no corresponding sec 
retary, will conduct it with all parties, at direction of the 
body, through its chairman. It will report, from time to 
t'me, as directed, and will keep copies of letters sent, and a 
file of those received, which it will turn over to its succes- 
sors, on its discharge. If there be a corresponding secre- 
tary, he will perform the duties assigned above to the 
committee of correspondence. 



The Committee on Finance. 



The committee on finance will devise the ways and 
means to obtain the necessary funds for the body, and 
report thereon from time to time ; and will attend to such 
other duties as may be assigned to them. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 979 



Other Committees. 



Other committees will attend to such business as may 
be assigned to tliem by the main body, reporting- thereon 
as may be required. 

By-Laws. 



The old custom of appending a distinct set of By-Laws 
has fallen into disuse. The main points will be found 
embodied in the Constitution in the forms given. Any 
others, or any modifications of the rules necessary, may be 
provided for in the Constitution, or enacted by a majority 
vote. But, if it be thought necessary, that portion of the 
Constitution that contains provisions that were formerly so 
placed, can be made distinct. 

Official Forms — The President. 



On taking his seat, says: 

"The meeting [^or society, or club, or association, as the 
case may be^ will come to order." 

If there have been a meeting previous: 

"The secretary will please to read the minutes." 

After the minutes have been read: 

" You have heard the minutes of the previous meeting 
read. What order do you take on them !" 

When a motion has been made and seconded : 

" It has been moved and seconded that {^here state the 
motion]. Are you ready for the question .•*" 

If a member arises to speak, recognize him by naming 
him by his place, or in any way which will identify him 
without using his name, if possible. 

In putting the question : 

" It has been moved and seconded that [_here state the 



98o THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

motion]. So many as are in favor of the motion will sigriify 
their assent by saying 'Aye !'" 

When the ayes have voted, say : 

"Those to the contrary opinion, ' No !' " 

Or, have the resolution read, and say : 

'* It has been moved and seconded that the resolution 
just read be passed. So many as are in favor," etc. 

On a call for the previous question : 

" Shall the main question be now put ? Those in the 
affirmative will," etc. 

On an appeal, state the decision, and, if you think 
proper, the reasons therefor, and that it has been appealed 
from, and then : 

" Shall the decision of the chair stand? Those in the 
affirmative," etc. 

Should it be sustained, say : 

" The ayes have it. The decision of the chair stands as 
the judgment of this meeting" \^oy society, etc., as tJie case 
may be]. 

Should it not be sustained, say : 

"The noes have it. The decision of the chair is 
reversed." 

In announcing the result of a question, if it be carried, 
say : 

"The ayes appear to have it ^ the ayes have it — the 
motion \or amendment, as the case may be] is carried. 

If it be lost : 

"The noes appear to have it — the noes have it — the 
motion is lost." 

If a division be called for : 
"A division is called lor. Those in favor of the motion 
will rise." 

Count them. When counteo, announce the number, and 
say : 

"Those opposed will rise." 

Count them, report the number, and declare the result. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 98 1 

If the yeas and nays be called for, and no objections be 
made, he states the question, if needed, and says : 

" As the roll is called, members will vote in the affirma- 
tive or negative. The secretary will call the roll." 

After the ayes and nays have been determined, the chair- 
man states the number and declares the result. 

If no quorum be present at the hour of meeting, after 
waiting a reasonable time, he says : 

"The hour for which this meeting was called having 
arrived and past, and no quorum being present, what order 
is to be taken ?" 

Or, he may simply announce the fact, and wait for a 
member to move an adjournment. 

If during a meeting some member calls for a count, he 
counts, and announces if a quorum be present or not. If 
not, he says : 

" This meeting is in want of a quorum. What order is 
to be taken ?" 

Or he may state the fact only, and wait for a motion to 
adjourn. But while there is no quorum present, business 
must be suspended. 

After the minutes have been adopted, he says : 

"The next business in order is the reports of standing 
committees." 

If none, or after they have reported, he says : 

" The reports of special committees are next in order." 

And so he announces each business in its proper suc- 
cession. 

When the hour for the orders of the day arrives, on call 
of a member, he says: 

" Shall the orders of the day be taken up.'' So many as 
are in favor," etc. 

In case of disorder in committee of the whole, which its 
chairman cannot repress, the presiding officer may say : 

" The committee of the whole is dissolved. The society 
[or club, or association, as the case may be] will come to 
order. Members will take their seats." 



982 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

He will then take the chair, instead of the chairmain of 
the committee of the whole. 

In taking the question on amendment, he says : 

"The question will be on the amendment offered by 
the member from [naming his place, or otherwise indicating 
him]," and then puts the question. 

If on an amendment to an amendment, then : 

" The question will be on the amendment to the amend- 
ment," and the rest as before. 

If either the amendment or the amendment to the amend- 
ment be carried, he will say : 

" The question now recurs on the resolution as amended. 
Are you ready for the question? " 

And if no member rises to speak, he will put the ques- 
tion. 

On the motion to amend by striking out words from a 
resolution, he says : 

" It is moved to amend by striking oiit the words 
[naming them]. Shall those words stand? " And then he 
put the question. 

Objection being made to the reading of a paper, he will 

say : 

" Shall the paper Lnaming itj be read?" and then put 
the question. 

And on an objection being made to the reception of a 
report, he will say : 

"Shall the report of the committee be received?" and 
after the demand he puts the question. 

When in doubt as to which member was up first, he 

says: 

"The chair is in doubt as to which member is entitled 
to the floor. The society [or club, or association, as the 

case may be] will decide. Was the gentleman from 

[indicating any one] first up?" And puts the question. If 
the body decide against that member, he puts the question 
on the next, and so through, until the society decides that 



/ 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 983 

some one of them has the floor. If but two contend, how- 
ever, and the society decide against the first named, the 
decision virtually entitles the other to the floor without 
further vote. 

If a member is out of order, he will say: 

The member [indicating him] is out of order." He will 
make him take his seat, and then state wherein the mem- 
ber is out of order. 

If the point of order is raised by a member he will say: 

"The member [indicating him] will state his point of 
order." When this has been done, he decides the point. 
On a question of the time of adjournment, he says: 

" It has been moved and seconded that when this meet- 
[or club, etc., as the case may bej adjourns, it adjourn to 
[naming time and place]. Are you ready for the question?" 
And if no one rises to speak, puts the question. 

On a question of adjournment, he says: 

" It has been moved and seconded that this meeting [or 
club, etc.] do now adjourn ;" and puts the question. 

When adjournment is carried, he says : 

"This society [or club, etc.] stands adjourned to" [nam- 
ing time and place]; or if without any time, he says : 

"This society [or club, etc.] stands adjourned without 
day " 

The Recording Secretary. 



The secretary commences his minutes thus : 
"At a stated [or special, or adjourned stated, or ad- 
journed special, as the case may beJ meeting of [here insert 
the name of the body], held on [here insert the time and 
place of meeting], Mr. [insert chairman's name] in the 
chair, and [here insert secretary-s name] acting as sec- 
retary- — 

" The minutes of the preceding menting were read and 
approved." 



984 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

If the reading of the minutes was dispensed with, say 
so, instead of the preceding Hne. 

Then give a statement of what was done, without com- 
ments, as succinctly as possible, down to the adjournment. 

In countersigning an order for money, or in giving a 
certified copy of the minutes, or an extract from them, 
always sign the name on the left-hand corner of each sheet 
except the last. On the last, the signature on the same 
corner should be preceded — if an order for money — by the 
word teste or attest ;. and if it be a copy of minutes, by the 
words, "A true copy of the minutes." 

In case of an adjournment for want of a quorum, say: 

"At a stated [or special, etc.] meeting called at [name 
place and time], no quorum being present, the meeting 
adjourned." 

In recording the yeas and nays, prepare a list of the 
members, or have it on hand, and after the name of each 
have two columns ruled. 

Where a member votes "aye," write it in the first col- 
umn, or head one column "aye," and the other "no," and 
make a mark in the proper column, opposite the name. 
Where he votes "no," write it on the second. Add up, 
and enter the number at the foot of each column. Indorse 
the resolution or motion voted upon the back of the list. 

Where a report is made, it is not necessary in the min- 
utes to do more than give an abstract of its contents, or a 
sentence or two indicating its nature. The report should, 
however, be indorsed with its title, and the date of its 
report, and filed. 

A list of the orders of the day should always be made 
out previous to every meeting, for the convenience of the 
presiding officer. 

Corresponding Secretary. 



In addressing a letter for the body, write the words 
" Corresponding Secretary," as concluding part of the sig- 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 985 

nature, and retain a copy of the letter sent, with a record 
of the time it was dispatched, stating whether by mail or 
private hand. 

The Treasurer. 

The form of account of the treasurer is very simple. 
But where the accounts are complicated, a regular set of 
books should be opened, and kept by double entry. 

The Committees. 



The chairman of the committee of the whole, when the 
committee has risen, will say to the president of the main 
body, if it have concluded its business : 

" Mr. President : The committee of the whole has, 
according to order, gone through the business assigned to 
it, and asks leave to report." 

Leave being granted, he reports what has been done. 

Or, not having concluded — 

" The committee of the whole has, according to order, 
considered the business assigned to it, and made progress 
therein, but not having time to conclude the same, asks 
leave to sit again." 

Or, if rising from the want of a quorum — 

" The committee of the whole has, according to order, 
considered [proceed to consider] the business assigned 
to it, but has risen for want of a quorum." 

In putting the question for rising — 

" It has been moved and seconded that this committee 
do now rise and report [or report progress]. So many as 
are in favor," etc. 

All written reports are headed after a similar form. If 
from a standing committee, thus : 

"The committee on [insert name of committee] respect- 
fully report ." And then let the report follow. 



986 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

If a Special committee — 

The committe to which was referred [here state the 
special matter of reference], have considered the same, and 
respectfully report," etc. 

And all reports conclude with: 

"All of which is respectfully submitted." 

A minority report is headed: 

"The undersigned, the minority of a committee to 
which was referred," etc. 

And concludes as in a majority report. 



Rules of Order— Quorum. 



1. A QUORUM is a sufficient number to leg-ally transact 
business. A majority of the members of any association 
constitutes a natural quorum ; but a smaller number is 
usually made a quorum by a provision to that effect in the 
constitution or by-laws, through motives of convenience. 

2. If there be a quorum present at the hour named for 
the meeting, or within thirty minutes thereafter, the presid- 
ing officer takes the chair, and calls the association to order ; 
if not, he waits a reasonable time, and from the chair 
announces that no quorum is present. Thereupon no 
further business is in order, except to adjourn for want of a 
quorum, but it will be in order to call the roll of rtiembers 
and to make endeavor to obtain the presence of enough to 
form a quorum. 

3. During the transaction of business, should it be 
observed that no quorum is present, the chair may announce 
the fact, or any member may call for a count. If, on count- 
ing, it be found that there is no quorum, business is sus- 
pended until a quorum be found. If not to be had, the 
meeting must be adjourned. 

4. If, on calling the ayes and noes, or on division, a 
qnorum be not found, the vote is null, and at the next meet- 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 987 

ing the unfinished business is in the exact state it was when 
the absence of a quorum was discovered. 



GaU. 



I. On a call of the body, each member rises as he is 
called, and answers to his name, and the absentees are 
noted. In a small body it is not necessary to rise. 



Minutes. 



1. The presiding officer having taken the chair, and a 
quorum being present, the minutes are read. If there be 
any mistakes in the record, these are amended, and then 
the minutes are adopted. If, under any circumstances 
requiring haste, or in the absence of the journal, the read- 
ing of the minutes be suspended, they may be either read 
and adopted at another stage of the proceedings, or at the 
next succeeding meeting. Nevertheless, the minutes being 
a record of facts, any error subsequently discovered may 
be amended at any time. This may be done by unanimous 
consent ; or, if objections be made, then any member who 
voted in the affirmative on their adoption, can move a recon- 
sideration of the motion to adopt. This last motion pre- 
vailing, the minutes are open to amendment ; and after 
being amended, the motion on their adoption as amended 
is put. 

2. The rule of record in ordinary associations is some- 
what different from that in legislative bodies. The minutes 
of the former stand in lieu of the journals of the latter. 
The former never contain a question which is interrupted by 
a vote to adjourn, or to proceed to the order of the day : 
the latter always do. , Even propositions withdrawn, or 
ruled out of order, may be entered, as so treated. The 



988 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

minutes are to be full and explicit, and a true record of all 
that was done, but not of all that was said, unless the latter 
be necessary to a clear understanding of the' business. 

3. Proceedings in committee of the whole are, of course, 
not entered on the minutes — the entry merely that the com- 
mittee rose and reported thus and so, and what was done 
thereon bv the association. 

Presiding Officer. 



In the absence of the president, or in case he declines, 
the vice-president takes the chair. If there be more than 
one vice-president, then they take it in their numerical order, 
unless the association, by vote, designate a particular one. 
If neither president nor vice-president be present, some 
member is called to act temporarily as chairman, on motion 
put by the mover thereo f. 

Recording Officer; 



In the absence of the secretary, or, if more than one, in 
the absence of all, a temporary secretary must be appointed 
oh motion. 

Arrangement of Business. 

This, in associations, is usually provided for in the 
by-laws. If not otherwise provided for, it is as follows: i. 
Reading the minutes. 2. Reports of standing committees. 
3. Reports of special committees. 4. Special orders. 5. 
Unfinished business. 6. New business. The election of 
new members, unless otherwise ordered, is always in order ; 
and the election of officers ranks as a special order ; but an 
election of members is not in order while other business is 
pending, or while a member has the floor. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 989 



Orders. 



There is only one case where a member has a right to 
insist on anything-, and that is where he calls for the execu- 
tion of an existing order. No debate nor delay can be had 
on it ; but where it is for an order of the day, fixing some 
particular business to be taken up, then the president, on call 
of a member, puts the question whether the association will 
proceed to the order of the day. If it is decided in the nega- 
tive, that is, in effect, a reversal of the former order, and the 
association decides to proceed to other business. 



Committees. 



I.- Standing committees are appointed under the constitu- 
tion or by-laws of the association, or by resolution, and sit 
permanently, while special committees are usually appointed 
by resolution to attend to some particular business, which 
being done, they are usually discharged. 

2. The first-named person acts as chairman of any com- 
mittee. It is true that the committee possesses the inherent 
power to choose its own chairman ; but custom prevents this 
power from being used. Should a committee select some 
other than the first-named as chairman, it would be consid- 
ered a wanton insult. 

3. It is always proper to place the mover of a successful 
motion on any committee vising through his resolution, and 
to name him first ; but if the committee is upon an inquiry 
into his conduct, or where its deliberation concerns himself 
personally, or his manifest interest, the rule is not followed. 

4. As near as they will apply, the rules of order of the 
main body govern the deliberations of committees. 

5. A committee to whom a resolution or affirmative prop- 
osition is committed should always have a majority of mem- 



990 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

bers, if they can be had, favorable to such resolution or 
proposition. 

6. Unless otherwise ordered, the chair appoints all com- 
mittees. 

7. When there is a standing committee on any subject, 
anything referring to such subject should be referred to that 
committee alone ; but it may be given to a special committee, 
if the association think proper. 

8. Standing committees require no order to report. They 
are always in session, and should report at every meeting, if 
only to report progress, 

9. A committee cannot sit while the main body is in ses- 
sion, unless so ordered to do. 

10. A majority of a committee must concur in a report ; 
but the minority are never refused leave to bring in a counter 
report. 

11. Sometimes a majority cannot be found, whea the 
committee should report the fact of their disagreement, and 
ask leave to be discharged ; they are then to be discharged, 
and either a new committee raised, or the subject brought 
before a committee of the whole, or before the main body. 

12. Persons appointed upon a committee should join that 
committee so soon as they are notified of their appointment, 
unless they are excused ; as it is the duty of the first named 
member of the committee to call his fellows together as soon 
as possible. 

Committee of the Whole. 



I. If it be necessary to go into committee of the whole 
society, either for a general or specific purpose, it is done by 
motion, when the chairman vacates the chair, and calls some 
member to it to act as chairman ; though the committee of 
the whole, if it chooses, can select another chairman, like any 
other committe. This it never does. 

The quorum of the committee is the same as that of the 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 99I 

main body. If a quorum be found wanting, the committee 
has to rise, the regular chairman takes his seat, and the chair- 
man of the committee informs him that the committee rises 
for want of a quorum. Then the usual course is taken in 
regard to the absence of a quorum. 

2. If any communication be made to the main body while 
in committee of the whole, the committee cannot receive it. 
If its reception be necessary, the committee have to rise. 

3. If there be confusion and disturbance in committee of 
the whole, the president may take the chair, declare the com- 
mittee dissolved, and reduce the body to order. In that 
case it requires another motion for that committee to sit again. 

4. A committee of the whole cannot adjourn, but it must 
rise. It cannot take the previous question, nor take the ayes 
and noes. 

5. If the business before the committee of the whole be 
unfinished, it rises on motion, the regular presiding officer 
takes the chair, and the chairman of the committee reports 
that the committee of the whole have, according to order, 
considered the business assigned to them, and have made 
progress therein, but, not having time to conclude the same, 
ask leave to sit again. Leave is then granted on motion. 
If the motion be a seecial one, and it is concluded, the 
motion is that the committee rise and report proceedings ; 
then, when the president takes the chair, the chairman of the 
committe reports that the committee have gone through the 
business referred to them, and ask leave to report. Leave 
is then given to report then, or at some other time, either by 
motion, or, should there be no objection, on the call of some 
member 

6. In committee, members may speak oftener than once 
on the same subject, and are not confined strictly to the 
subject-matter. With these and the foregoing e.xceptions, 
the same rules of order govern a committee of the whole 
as govern the main body. 

7. A motion to rise and report progress is in order at 



992 THE ERACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

any stage of the business, and is to be decided without 
debate. When they have reported, they may be discharged 
on motion, which brings the matter laid before them directly 
before the association itself 



Committment. 



1. If it be desired to refer a resolution, address or other 
matter, to a committee, it is done on motion. If to a special 
committee, the chair names the committee. Any member 
present may suggest one member on that committee, and if 
the main body do not object, the chair will name him, since 
the silence of members in that case is equivalent to a direct 
appointment of that person by the association. But such a 
course is unusual, and generally improper. 

2. Though the majority on a committee should be favor- 
able to a measure, the minority may be of those who are 
opposed to it in some particulars. But those totally op- 
posed to it should never be appointed ; and if any one of 
that view be named, he should rise and state the fact, when 
the main body will excuse him from serving, 

3. If it be a written matter which is referred, the sec- 
retary delivers it to the first named of the committee. 

4. A committee meets when and v/here it pleases, unless 
the time and place is fixed for it. But it cannot act unless 
its members assemble together. 

5. The committee cannot change the title or subject of 
the matter before it, but otherwise have full power over it. 

6. If it be a written matter before it, if it originate with 
the committee, the writing must be considered paragraph by 
paragraph, and the question put on each. After each para- 
graph is approved or amended, it is then considered as a 
whole. If it has been referred, the committee only report 
the amendments they recommend separately ; as they have 
no right to amend a paper belonging to the main body. 



THE RLLES OF DEBATE. 993 

7. When the committee is tnrough, rome member 
moves that it rise and report the matter to the main body, 
with or without amendments, as the case may be. 

Reports of Committees. 

The chairman of the committee, standing in his place, 
informs the association that the committee to which was 
entrusted such a matter, naming it, have directed him to 
report thereon, and moves that the report be received. 
The cry of "Receive !" or "Report !" or "Read it!" from 
any one, generally dispenses with the formality of a ques- 
tion. He then reads the report, whatever it may be, and 
delivers the written report to the secretary. Then it lies 
on the table until called up by a motion. The committee is 
dissolved, and can act no more unless reconstituted for the 
purpose by a vote. 

Motions. 

1. A MOTION is a proposition by two members ; conse- 
quently, if not seconded, it is not to be entertained. This 
is different, however, in the case of an appeal, where the 
question may be put on the demand of one member. 

2. A motion must be put in writing, if any member 
desires it, and read, when required for information. But 
if the demand for the reading be repeated, so as to show 
itself a mere pretext for delay, the association may order it 
to be read no more. 

3. A motion for adjournment cannot be made while one 
member is speaking ; because it is a breach of order for one 
to speak when another has the floor, except to a point of 
order; consequently, even a privileged motion cannot be 
entertained. And even on a call to order, decided against 
him, he must still be allowed to go on, provided he does 
not persist in the same violation of order in his remarks. 

63 



994 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Amendments. 



1. An amendment takes the place of the question it is 
proposed to amend, and must be decided first. So an 
amendment to an amendment must be decided before the 
first amendment. 

2. But the amendments cannot be piled one on the 
other; that is, while you can amend an amendment, you 
cannot amend the second amendment. 

3. For example : it is moved to give the thanks of the 
association for his kind gift of fifty volumes to the society. 

It is moved to amend by striking out the word "kind" 
and inserting "generous." This is an amendment. It is 
then moved to strike out the word "generous" and insert 
that of "liberal." This is an amendment to the amend- 
ment. It is then proposed to strike out the word "liberal," 
and insert that of "munificent. " This third amendment is out 
of order. 

4. Nor can amendments be made to certain privileged 
questions. Thus, an amendment to a motion to adjourn, 
for the previous question, a call of the house, or to lay on 
the table. 

5. But an amendment, though inconsistent with one 
previously adopted, is still in order. It is for the associa- 
tion alone to decide whether, by the passage of the second 
amendment, it will recede from the former action. 

6. On an amendment being moved, a member who has 
spoken to the main question, may speak to the amendment. 

7. If it be proposed to amend by leaving oufe certain 
words, it may be moved to amend the amendment by leav- 
inor out a part of the words of the amendment, which is 
equivalent to letting those words remain. 

8. For example: the original words being " Resolved 
that we have heard with feeling of lively satisfaction that the 
authorities of our town propose to tax dogs, and approve 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 995 

their action, "it is moved to amend by striking out the 
words " with feelings of lively satisfaction." If it be moved 
to amend the amendment, by striking out the words " with 
feelings of satisfaction," the question would be: Shall those 
words stand as part of the resolution? If carried, the word 
" lively " is struck out, and the rest remains. The question 
then recurs on the resolution as amended. 

9. When it is proposed to amend by inserting a para- 
graph, or part of one, the friends of this should make it 
perfect by amendments; because if it be inserted it cannot 
be amended, since it has been agreed to in that form. So 
if proposed to amend by striking out a paragraph, the 
friends of the paragraph should also make it as perfect, by 
amendments, as possible; for if the striking out be nega- 
tived, that is equivalent to agreeing to it in that form, and 
amendments are not admissible. 

10. When it is moved to amend by striking out certain 
words and inserting others the manner of stating the ques- 
tion is, first to read the whole passage to be amended, as 
it stands at present, then the words proposed to be struck 
out; next those to be inserted; and, lastly, the whole 
passage as it will be when amended. And the question, 
if desired, is then to be divided, and put first on striking 
out. If carried, it is next on inserting the words proposed. 
If that be lost, it may be moved to insert others. 

11. A motion is made to amend by striking out certain 
words and inserting others in their place, which is nega- 
tived. Then it is moved to strike out the same words, and 
and to insert others of a tenor entirely different from those 
first proposed, which is negatived. Then it is moved to 
strike out the same words and insert nothing, which is 
agreed to. All this is in order; because to strike out A 
and insert B, is one proposition. To strike out A and 
insert C is another proposition. To strike out A and insert 
nothing is another proposition. The rejection of either 
proposition does not preclude the offering of a new one. 



996 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

But a motion to strike out alone being voted down, is 
equivalent to voting that the words should stand, and 
amendments are not in order. Jefferson thinks that even 
if the question be divided, and taken first on the striking 
out, and that fails, amendments are in order, because the 
proposition is only half put. There is force in this, and it 
seems to be the practice. , 

1 2. After the paragraph is amended, it nevertheless may 
be further amended by striking it entirely out. 



Privileged Questions. 



1. "When a question is under debate, no motion shall 
be received but to adjourn, to lay on the table, to postpone 
indefinitely, to postpone to a day certain, to commit, or to 
amend ; which several motions shall have precedence in the 
order they stand arranged ; and the motion to adjourn shall 
be always in order, and shall be decided without debate." 

2. These privileged questions shall not only be enter- 
tained while the main question is pending, but will be put 
before it. 

3. A motion to adjourn takes precedence of all others, 
because otherwise the body might be kept sitting against 
its will, and indefinitely. Yet even this question cannot be 
entertained after another question is actually put, and while 
members are voting upon it. 

4. An order of the day — that is, a question whicn has 
previously been set down to be argued or determined on 
that day — takes place of all questions except adjournment. 
If, for instance, a matter be set down for 7 o'clock, then at 
that hour, although another question may be before the 
body, a motion to proceed to take up the order of the day 
must be received by the chair. 

5. These privileged questions sometimes conflict with 
each other, but are reconciled under known rules. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 997 

6. If the previous question be first moved, it is first 
put. This cuts off all the others. The society, having 
decided to take the question, must vote on it as it stands 
— postponement, commitment, and amendment being out 
of order. 

7. If postponement be carried, of course the question 
cannot be either committed, amended, nor the previous 
question be carried, for the subject is not before the body. 

8. If committed, the same rules and reasons follow. 

9. If amendment is first moved, the question on that 
must be determined before the previous question. 

10. If amendment and postponement are proposed, the 
latter is put first. The reason is, that the amendment is not 
suppressed, but comes up again in its order whenever the 
main question is again considered. 

11. If a motion for amendment be followed by one for 
commitment, the latter shall be put first. 

12. The previous question cannot be put on the motion 
to postpone, commit, or amend the main question. 

13. The motion for the previous question, or for com- 
mitment or amendment, cannot be postponed. 

14. A motion made for reading papers relative to the 
question discussed must be put before the main question. 

15. A motion made and seconded cannot be withdrawn 
without leave, though, if no member object, it is not neces- 
sary to put the question. 

16. When different sums or dates are used in filling 
blanks, the question shall first be put on the largest sum 
and the longest time. 

17. In commitment, the motions to commit are priv- 
ileged in the following order : i. Committee of the Whole ; 
2. Standing Committee ; 3. Special Committee. 

18. A motion to lay on the table must be put before 
either postponement, commitment, or amendment, although 
neither of these last can be laid on the table. 

19. A postponement can be amended as to time, and an 



998 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

amendment can be amended ; but if it be proposed to amend 
by inserting anything, a motion to amend or perfect the 
matter proposed to be inserted must be put to a vote before 
the question to insert. The same rule follows in regard 
to striking out. 

20. A question of privilege, such as a quarrel between 
members, or affecting the character of members, or the main 
body, must be disposed of before the original question be 
disposed of 

21. Questions on leave to withdraw motions, or appeals 
from the decisions of the chair, have a precedence over the 
main question. 

Previous Question. 



1. Where any question is before the association, any 
member may move that the main question be put ; and this 
is termed moving the previous question. If the motion pass 
in the affirmative, the main question is put immediately, and 
no further debate is allowed upon the matter at issue. 

2. This is frequently styled "the gag law," because its 
adoption cuts off all debate. When a subject, in the judg- 
ment of the majority, has been exhausted, or when person- 
alities have been introduced, and disorders are threatened, 
it is a very proper and wise thing ; but it should not gener- 
ally be brought to bear so long as members who desire to 
speak are unheard. 

Division of the Question. 



I. A QUESTION which contains more parts than one may 
be divided, on the demand of a member, provided the main 
body concur. If the question contain parts which are evi- 
dently incompatible, the presiding officer may divide them 
of his own will, unless the body deny him the power. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 999 

2. When a question is divided, after the question has 
been taken on the first member of it, the second member of 
it is still open to amendment and debate, unless the pre- 
vious question be taken upon it. 

Co-existing Questions. 



1. Occasionally there are two questions up at the same 
time — one primarily, and the other secondarily. Are both 
subject to debate? 

2. When it has been moved to commit a question, the 
main question is debatable under that motion ; but no amend- 
ment can be entertained, because the question of commit- 
ment will be first put. 

Equivalent Questions. 



Where questions are equivalent, so that the rejection of 
one is the affirming the other, that necessarily determines 
the latter. Thus, a vote against striking out is virtually 
the same as a vote to agree ; a vote to reject is equivalent 
to a vote to adopt ; but, on a motion to strike out A and 
insert B being decided in the negative, this does not pre- 
clude the motion to strike out A and insert C, these being 
separate questions. 

The Question. 



1. The question is first to be put on the affirmative, and 
then on the negative side. 

2. After the question has been put, debate upon it is out 
of order ; but after the presiding officer has put the affirma- 
tive, any member who has not spoken before on the ques- 
tion may speak before the negative be put, for it is not a 
full question until the negative be put. 



lOOO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

3. But on trifling- matters, such as leave to bring in 
reports of committees, withdrawing motions, reading papers, 
and such Hke, the consent of the main body will be sup- 
posed without the formality of a question, unless some one 
should object, for the absence of an objection in such cases 
testifies to unanimous consent. 



Division. 



1 . The affirmative and negative voices having been heard 
upon a question, the presiding officer declares by the sound 
what is the' result. If he have doubts as to the relative 
strength of the yeas and nays, or if any member demands 
it, before other business has been gone into, then a division 
is ordered. 

2. The mode of dividing is for those in the affirmative 
to rise, when the presiding officer counts those up, and 
announces the number. These sit, and those in the nega- 
tive arise, to be counted in like manner. 

3. One-fifth of the members present may call for the 
yeas and nays, each member's name being called, and his 
answer entered by the secretary. 

In case of any disorder during a division or calling of 
the yeas and nays, the presiding officer decides the question 
of order ; and the decision is not the subject of appeal at 
this time, although it may be revised after the division or call 
is over. 

Reconsideration. 



I. A QUESTION which has been decided either in the 
affirmative or in the negative, may be reconsidered upon the 
motion of a member who has voted with the majority. But 
this motion for reconsideration will not be in order, unless 
made during the meeting whereat the question was decided. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. lOOI 

2. The effect of the adoption of a motion to reconsider 
is to place the question in a position it occupied before the 
vote on its adoption or rejection was taken ; consequently it 
is as open to amendment, postponement, commitment, or 
laying on the table, as it was at that time. 

Appeals. 

1. An appeal from the decision of the chair is a matter 
of right, and brings under review and opens to debate the 
grounds of such decision. 

2. The presiding officer, by usage and courtesy, has the 
right to assign his reasons for his decision before the ques- 
tion is put on the appeal. 

3. The question on an appeal is, whether the decision of 
the presiding officer shall stand as the judgment of the body 
itself If a majority vote in the affirmative, the decision 
stands ; if not, it is reversed. 

4. An appeal cannot be put on an appeal ; that is, a 
second appeal cannot be entertained while the first remains 
undisposed of 

5. A mere opinion of the chair, drawn out by an inter- 
rogation on points of order, is not subject to an appeal. To 
be appealed from, it must be an actual decision on a ques- 
tion coming up legitimately in the progress of business. 

Papers. 



1. When papers have been laid before the main body, 
or referred to a committee, every member has a right to 
hear them once read at the secretary's table, before he can 
be compelled to vote on them. 

2. But he has not a right, therefore, to have papers read 
independently of the will of a majority of his colleagues. 
If the reading be demanded purely for information, and not 



I002 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER 

for delay, and no one objects, the chairman will direct it to 
be done, without putting it to the question. But should any 
one object, the question must be put. 

3. Nor can any member have a right, without a question 
first put, to have any thing read, which is not before the 
body. 

4. Nor can a member have a right to read a paper, in 
his place, not even his own speech, if it be objected to, 
without the leave of the body. But this rule is not usually 
enforced, unless there be a gross or intentional abuse of the 
time and patience of the body. 

Communications. 



When a communication addressed to the main body is 
presented, the question is to be put whether it shall be 
received. But a general cry of "Receive!" or, even if 
there be no objection, the silence of the body is sufficient to 
dispense with the formality of the question. In that case, 
or in case the vote on its reception be in the affirmative, it 
is to be read, unless otherwise disposed of 

Things on the Table. 



1. Matters which have been laid on the table can only 
be called up when the class of business to which they belong 
is in order. 

2. If laid on the table by a motion, they can only be 
lifted from it by a motion. If laid there under rules, as a 
matter of course, they can be called up by any member as a 
matter of right, when the business to which they belong is 
reached in its regular order. 

3. But it is deemed discourteous when the matter lies 
on the table, to call it up in the absence of the mover, or 
against his wishes, if present, provided it refers »:o a matter 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. IOO3 

of local or private concern, in the mover's special charge ; 
and provided, further, that it is not designed or calculated to 
delay final action on any measure or proposition before the 
body, or impede the progress of business. 

Resolutions. 



All resolutions must be committed to writing if demanded, 
and the name of the mover should be signed thereto. 



t>' 



Bights of Members. 



1. It is the right of a member to have the question put 
on his motion, and a refusal to do this is a breach of order 
on the part of the chair. 

2. It is the right of a member to insist on the execution 
of a standing order of the body. 

3. And it is the right of a member, if he observe that a 
quorum is not present during the transaction of business, to 
call for a count. 

Order and Decorum. 

1. When the presiding officer takes the chair, every mem- 
ber is to be seated. 

2. When any member means to speak, he is to stand up, 
uncovered, and to address himself — not to those around, or 
to any particular member — but to the presiding officer, who 
calls him by his name ; or, better still, indicates him by his 
position, or otherwise, that the body may take notice who it 
is that speaks. But a member who is indisposed may be in- 
dulged to speak sitting. 

3. When a member stands up to speak, no question is to 
be put ; but he is to be heard, unless the body overrules 
him. 



I004 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

4. If two or more rise to speak nearly together, the chair- 
man decides who was first up, and calls him by name or loca- 
tion ; whereupon he proceeds, unless he voluntarily sits 
down, and gives way to the other. But if the chairman is 
not clear in his mind, or the body does not acquiesce in his 
decision, the question is to be put as to which was first up. 

5. No man can speak more than once to the same ques- 
tion, not even though he change his opinion in the mean- 
while, unless by unanimous consent. 

6. But if he be the mover, proposer, or introducer of the 
question pending, he may close the debate ; but only after 
every one desiring to speak on it shall have been heard. 

7. Or he may be permitted to speak again, to clear a 
matter of fact ; or merely to explain himself in some material 
part of his speech ; or to the matter and words of the ques- 
tion keeping himself to that only, and not traveling into the 
merits of it ; or to the orders of the body, if they be trans- 
gressed, keeping within that line. 

8. If the chairman rise to state a point of order, give 
information, or otherwise speak within his privilege, the 
member standing up must resume his seat, that the chairman 
may be first heard. 

9. No one is to speak impertinently or beside the ques- 
tion, superfluously or tediously. 

10. No person is to use indecent language against the 
proceedings of the body ; and no prior determination of 
which is to be reflected on by any member, unless he means 
to conclude with a motion to rescind it. While a proposi- 
tion is under consideration, however, though it has been 
even reported by a committee, reflections upon it are not 
reflections upon the body itself. 

11. No person, in speaking, is to mention a member 
then present by his name ; but to describe him by his seat, 
or as one who spoke last ; or on the other side of the ques- 
tion ; or in some other indirect way to identify him. 

12. Nor is he to digreSs from the matter to fall upon the 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. 100$ 

person ; nof to use even unmanly words against a member ; 
nor to arraign the motives of those who propose or advocate 
it. All such violations of order it is the duty of the chair to 
immediately suppress. 

13. When a member shall be called to order by a member 
or the chair, he shall sit down until the point of order is 
decided. The member who makes the call shall state his 
point of order, and the question shall be decided by the 
chair, without debate ; subject, of course to an appeal. 

14. While the chair is putting a question, or addressing 
the body, none shall walk out of or across the room ; nor, 
in such case, while a member is speaking, shall enter- 
tain private discourse ; nor, while a member is speaking, 
shall pass between him and the chair. Every member shall 
remain uncovered while the body is in session. No member, 
or other person, shall visit or remain near the secretary's 
table while the ayes and noes are being called, or the bal- 
lots counted. 

1 5. No one is to disturb another in his speech by hissing, 
coughing, spitting, or rude exclamations ; nor stand up to 
interrupt him ; nor pass between the chair and the speaking 
member, nor go across the house while he is speaking ; nor 
walk up and down the floor ; nor take books or papers from 
the table, or write there. Nevertheless, if no attention is 
paid to what the member says, it is a piece of prudence for 
him to sit down, as the ill-manners of his colleagues are 
prima facie evidence that he is saying nothing worth the 
hearing. 

16. If repeated calls do not produce order, the chair may 
call any member by name who obstinately persists in irregu- 
larity, whereupon the main body may require the member to 
sit down. He must be heard in exculpation, if it is intended 
to proceed further, and then withdraw to await the further 
action of his colleagues, who may pass a vote of censure 
upon him ; or, if he persists, may act in his case in the man- 
ner prescribed in the by-laws of the body. 



IOo6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

17. Disorderly words are not to be noted until the mem- 
ber finishes his speech, unless they are manifestly personal, 
indecent, blasphemous, or reflecting upon the house. The 
offensive words are to be taken down by the member who 
objects, or by the secretary, at his request. If the chair 
thinks they are not disorderly, he directs them not to be 
taken down by the secretary, unless there be a general cry 
to the contrary. They are to be read, A^hen taken down, to 
the member, who may deny them ; in which case the body 
shall dedide by vote whether they are his or not. If they 
are voted to be his, or if he acknowledges them, he must 
justify them satisfactorily, explain the use of them, or apolo- 
gize. If the offended member still persists, and is not satis- 
fied, the sense of the body may be taken, during which both 
members must withdraw. But when business has inter- 
vened, or any member spoken after the offensive words, 
they cannot be taken down. 

18. Disorderly words spoken in committee must be 
written down, as in the main body ; but the committee can 
only report them to the latter for its action. 

19. Blasphemous or seditious words, or words reflecting 
on the religious belief of members, or on religion generally, 
are not in order. 

20. No member can be present when anything which 
concerns himself is debating, much less vote upon it ; nor is 
any member to speak to the merit of it until he withdraws. 
Nevertheless, he may be heard upon it, before he withdraws. 

21. No member is to come into the place of meeting, or 
remain there, with his head covered, nor put on his hat while 
there. 

22. A question of order may be adjourned for a time, to 
look into precedents. 

23. When a member is called to order, he shall sit down 
at once, unless permitted to explain. If the body be 
appealed to, it shall decide the question without debate ; if 
there be no appeal, the decision of the chair shall be sub- 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. IOO7 

mitted to. If the decision be in favor of the member, he 
shall be allowed to proceed ; if against him, he shall not 
proceed without the leave of the body ; and the body may, 
if it think proper, proceed to censure him. 

24. All decisions of the presiding officer are liable to be 
reversed, altered, or amended by the body. 



Adjournments and Recesses. 



An adjournment is the closing of a session for the day to 
be resumed on another day ; on which day the regular 
routine of business is commenced anew, except when super- 
seded by a special order. 

A recess is a suspension of business from one hour of a 
day to another hour of the same day ; at which business is 
taken up at the point where it was left, unless a special 
order takes its place. 

A motion ro adjourn cannot be amended, by adding the 
day and hour. It must be put simply that this body do 
now adjourn ; and, if carried in the affirmative, it is adjourned 
to the next sitting day, or without day, as the case may be. 
But any special time of adjournment may be fixed by a pre- 
vious resolution. 

If a question be put for adjournment, it is no adjournment 
till so pronounced by the chair. And it is a breach of cour- 
tesy for a member to leave his place until the chair has pro- 
nounced on the question of adjournment. 



Suspension of Rules. 



By unanimous consent any rule or order may be sus- 
pended in part or whole ; but the object of suspending the 
rule must be stated in the motion, and when that object has 
failed or been attained, the rule regains its former force. 



I008 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Force of Words. 



Throughout these rules, whenever the word "body" or 
"main body" has been used, it means the society, club, 
association, or other organized body to which the rules are 
made to apply. 

Tie Vote. 



Where a presiding officer is not chosen out of the body 
itself, as in the case of the Vice-President of the United 
States, the Lieutenant Governor of a State, or the Mayor 
of a city or town, who may preside over the Common 
Council, he has rtaturally no vote. The Constitution in 
the case of the two first, and the charter in case of the last, 
give them the privilege of deciding in case of a tie, and 
they do not vote otherwise. 

But in the case of the Speaker of Congress, or of a 
House of Assembly, or a State Senate choosing its own 
presiding officer, the Speaker or President votes like any 
other member, only it is customery for the clerk, in calling 
the roll, to call him by his title, and not by his name. 
Hence, in ordinary societies the presiding officer votes on 
all questions, and must vote if it be pressed, or be guilty of 
contempt of the main body, as in the case of any other 
member. The effect of a tie vote then is merely that the 
question before the body, not having a majority of votes, is 
lost. 

Of Resolutions. 



A WRITTEN resolution is the lormal record of opinion 
upon one or more subjects, expressed by a body of men. As 
in almost every species of written composition, the language 
should be simple, terse and forcible. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. IOO9 

A resolution may or may not be prefaced by a preamble. 
If it be so constructed, the preamble should set forth briefly 
the cause of the resolution which is to follow. This preamble 
is usually commenced with the word " Whereas." 

After this comes the resolution or resolutions — which 
commence with the word " Resolved." 

A good resolution — one that is pithy and forcible — 
requires some care in its composition. Unless the writer be 
a very experienced one, he had better avoid all figures of 
rhetoric, and confine himself to a plain statement of the 
opinion he wishes to convey. 

As example is always useful, we will take a subject, and 
show the preferable form of a preamble and resolution upon 
it. 

We will suppose that a party majority in the legislature 
passes a registry law, which is not approved by the opposite 
party, and a public meeting of the members of the latter de- 
sire to condemn it. The following preamble and resolutions 
may be suggested : 

" Whereas, It is proper for the people, in their public 
assemblages, to express their views of the conduct of those 
in office, and to award to the latter their approval or 
censure ; and 

" Whereas, The late legislature of this State have passed 
on oppressive registry bill, odious in its principles, and 
burdensome in its details ; therefore, 

" Resolved, That the act referred to meets our unqualified 
disapproval and decided condemnation ; that we will spare 
no efforts to promote its abrogation ; and that we will vote 
for no candidate for senate or assembly who is not pledged to 
its speedy repeal." 

Now, the above is not more wordy than such resolutions 
usually are, yet it can be easily simplified. 

It is unnecessary to aver that it is proper for the people 
to express their views on official conduct, " in their public 
assemblages," since it is their right to do that also in 



lOIO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Other places. The rest of the first paragraph is a mere 
repetition. And, finally, the whole is a matter generally 
admitted, and, therefore, not the subject of affirmation. The 
preamble had better begin with the second paragraph. But 
that contains useless w.ords also. Anything which is 
oppressive is apt to be odious in its principles and burden- 
some in its details, and vice versa. 

The resolution itself contains superfluous matter in its 
phrases — " decided condemnation" or "unqualified disap- 
proval" should be stricken out, and the remainder of the 
paragraph condensed. 

Again : the statements of the preamble may be as fully 
expressed in the body of the resolution itself, and may be 
properly omitted. 

Following these hints, the resolution would read as 
follows : 

''Resolved, That we are opposed to the present oppres- 
sive registry law, and that we will vote for no candidate for 
either house of the legislature who is not pledged to its 
speedy repeal." 

With these remarks upon composition, we proceed to lay 
before the reader a series of resolutions upon various ordin- 
ary subjects, which may possibly afford him hints, or serve 
for the nucleus of others. 



Resolutions of Condolence on the Death of a Member of 

a Fire Company. 



Whereas, It has seemed good to the Almighty Disposer 
of events to remove from our midst our late worthy and 
esteemed fellow -member, Phillip Flint ; and 

Whereas, The intimate relations long held by the 
deceased with the members of this company render it proper 
that we should place upon record our appreciation of his 
services as a fireman, and his merits as a man ; therefore, 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. lOII 

Resolved, That we deplore the loss of Philip Flint with 
deep feelings of regret, softened only by the confident hope 
that his spirit Is with those who, having fought the good fight 
here, are enjoying perfect happiness in a better world. 

Resolved, That we tender to his afflicted relatives our 
sincere condolence, and our earnest sympathy in their afflic- 
tion at the loss of one who was a good citizen, a devoted 
fireman, and an upright man. 

Resolved, That the members of this company will attend 
our deceased member to the grave in a body ; that the 
engine-house be hung with the emblems of mourning until 
after the funeral ceremony shall have been performed, and 
that the hall of meeting be draped with black for thirty days. 

Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolution, signed 
by the president, and certified by the secretary, be trans- 
mitted to the relatives of the deceased. 

Resolutions of Instruction to Members of the Legislature. 



Whereas, From the situation of this county [or "town," 
or "village,"], the general road law of the State is partly 
inapplicable to us, and highly inefficient, and the circum- 
stances of the case require a specific law ; therefore 

Be it resolved, by the people of [insert name here], in 
town meeting assembled. That the Senate and Represent- 
atives of this district in the legislature be, and hereby are, 
instructed to procure the passage of a law exempting this 
county [or "village," or " town," as the case may be] from 
the action of the general road law, and placing the working 
and repair of the roads entirely under the control of the local 
authorities. 

Resolutions of Thanks to the Officers of a Convention. 

Resolved, That the thanks of this convention are hereby 
given to the president for the able, dignified, and impartial 



I0I2 THE PRACTICAL HqME FARMER. 

manner in which he has presided over its deHberations, and 
to the other officers for the satisfactory manner in which 
they have fulfilled the duties assigned to them. 

[On a resolution of this kind the question is always to 
be put by the member who makes the motion — it being 
personal to the presiding officer.] 



Resolutions at a Meeting of Stockholders in Favor of a 

Certain Route. 



Resolved, That the proposed horse railroad should be 
located on the summit of the Palisades, and not on the 
shore below, for these reasons : 

1. The shore route is narrow, and being limited by the 
river on one side and the steep Palisades on the other, is 
incapable of the expanded population which may be expected 
on the space above, and is not likely to furnish those profits 
in the future which shall reimburse stockholders for the. 
present outlay. 

2. There is now a road being constructed from Hoboken 
to Union Hiill, on the upper routr. This will probably be 
extended to Bull's Ferry, and thus connecting with this line 
an unbroken communication will be secured between the 
upper terminus of our road and the ferry at Hoboken. 

3. The slightly increased cost of grading in the upper 
route is more than made up by the fact that the right of way 
in the lower route will cost a vast deal more. 

Resolved, That, for the foregoing and other reasons, the 
directors be instructed to select the upper, and not the lower 
route for the line of the proposed road. 

Of Reports, 



A REPORT is the written statement of a person having a 
particular matter in charge, of the acts officially performed, 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. IOI3 

or of a committee concerning the results of an investigation 
or matter confided to their care. The matter of the report 
is regulated by the same rules as regards its style and 
nature, as govern resolutions. 



Re(iapibulafei®Pi ®f GePteaiH l'©i^1iS. 



In order to impress certain points more strongly on the 
mind, we present in a condensed form the rules in regard to 
matters likely to confuse the reader. 



I. Motions in Order during Debate. 



These in their order of precedeece are : 

1. To adjourn. 

2. To lay on the table. 

3. To postpone indefinitely. 

4. To postpone to a day certain. 

5. To commit. 

6. To amend. 

II. Motions in the Order of Their Precedence. 



1. To fix time [and place, if desired] of adjournment. 

2. To adjourn. 

3. For the order of the day. 

4. To lay on the table. 

5. For the previous question. 

6. To postpone indefinitely. 

7. To postpone to a time certain. 

8. To commit. 
Q. To amend. 



IOI4 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



IIL Motions in Order When a Member Has the Floor. 



1. Call to order. 

2. Appeal from decision of the Chair. 

3. Objection to considering a question. 

[Not in order if debate have already begun on the subject.] 

4. That the quest'on be discussed. 

5. For the order of the day. 

IV. Motions Opening Main Questions to Debate. 



1. To strike out enacting clause of bill, or ordinance, [of 
course not applicable in private societies, and used in State 
or municipal Legislatures when it is desirable to force the 
flght on the measure at the second reading.] 

2. To commit the question. 

3. To refer. 

4. To postpone indefinitely. 

5. To reconsider a debatable question. 

V. Successful Motions that Cannot be Reconsidered. 



1. Adjournment. 

2. To take from the table. 

3. To reconsider. 

4. That the committee rise. 

5. To suspend the rules. 

VI. Matters Not Subject to Amendment. 



1. Motion to adjourn. 

2. Amendment to an amendment. 

3. An appeal from the decision of the Chair. 

4. A call to order. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. IO15 

5. Motion for leave to continue speaking after having 
been pronounced out of order. 

6. Motion to lay on the table. 

7. Objections to the consideration of a question. 

8. Motion for the order of the day. 

9. Motion to indefinitely postpone. 

10. Call for the previous question. 

11. Motion to reconsider. 

12. Motion that the committee rise. 

13. Motion that a question be discussed. 

14. Motion to suspend the rules. 

15. Motion to take from the table. 

16. Motion to take up a question out of the proper order. 

17. Motion for leave to withdraw a motion. 



VII. Non-Debatable Matters. 



1. A motion to adjourn. But a motion to fix the time to 
which the Society shall adjourn, when it does adjourn, is 
debatable. 

2. An appeal from the decision of the Chair, when a ques- 
tion of decorum is in debate, or to the priority of business. 
And no appeal can be made the subject of debate while the 
previous question is pending. 

3. A call to order is not debatable. 

4. Motion to extend the limit of debate. 

5. Motion to have leave to continue speaking after 
haivng been pronounced out of order. 

6. Motion to lay on the table. 

7. Motion to limit debate. 

8. Objection to the consideration of a question pro- 
pose. 

9. Motion for the order of the day. 

10. Motion for the previous question. 

11. Questions in regard to priority of business. 



IOl6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

12. Call for the reading of papers. 

13. To reconsider an undebatable question. 

14. Motion that the committee rise. 

15. Motion to allow the question to be discussed. 

16. Motion to suspend the rules. 

17. Motion to take from the tabe 

18. Motion to take up a question out of proper order. 
18. Leave to withdraw a motion. 



VIII. Forms of Putting Certain Questions. 



In putting the question of an appeal, the Chair does 
not ask if the decision of the chair be overruled, but — 
" Shall the decision of the Chair be sustained ? " or " Shall 
the decision of the Chair stand ?" If there be a tie vote, 
the decision of the Chair is overruled, because of the lack 
of a majority. 

In putting the question on striking out certain words, it 
is put — "Shall these words [naming them] stand as part 
of the resolution ? " If there be a tie vote, they are struck 
out, because a majority have not pronounced in their 
favor. 

On a demand for the order of the day, the question is 
put — " Will the Society, [council, club, whatever it is] now 
proceed to the order [or orders] of the day ? " 

On a demand for the previous question, the form is — 
" Shall the main question be now put ? " 

On en objection to the consideration of a question, if 
made at the time of the introduction of the subject, the 
form is — " Shall the question be considered ? " 

On putting the yeas and nays — "As many as are in 
favor of the motion [or resolutions] will when their names 
are called, answer. Aye. Those of the contrary opinion, 
No. Mr. Secretary, call the roll." 

On a call for the yeas and nays — "As many as are in 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. IOI7 

favor of calling the yeas and nays, will, when their names 
are called, say, Aye. Mr. Secretary, call the roll." When 
the requisite number have answered the Secretary suspends 
calling-, reports result to Chair, who says — [naming the 
number,] "In the affirmative. The yeas and nays are, 
ordered." Or, if there be no objection, he may say — 
"Those in favor of calling the yeas and nays will rise and 
remain standing till counted." He then counts them audi- 
bly, and announces the number and result. But if any 
member cries " vote ! " or otherwise dissents, the roll must 
be called for the ayes only. 



IX. Two-Thirds Vote. 



There is no such thing naturally as the necessity of a 
two-thirds vote. By the rules of order, a majority suffices-to 
order the previous question, to limit the time of speeches, to 
limit the debate — which last is virtually ordering the pre- 
vious question at a fixed hour — or to consider a question 
when objected to ; while to suspend the rules, or amend 
them, or to make a special order, or to move for the discus- 
sion of a nondebatable question, or to take up a question 
out of its order — the three last amounting to a suspension 
of the rules — requires unanimous consent. 

But while this is the practice in legislative bodies, in 
ordinary organizations, where celerity in the dispatch of bus- 
iness is not of great importance, where the previous ques- 
tion is looked upon as a device to prevent the minority from 
expressing an opinion, and where a suspension of the rules 
is more frequently necessary, the following special rule is 
sometimes adopted : 

It shall require a two-thirds vote of the members pres- 
ent at any meeting to call the previous question, to limit 
debate, to fix a specified hour for closing debate, to con- 
sider a question when objected to on its introduction, to 



IOl8 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

make a special order, to suspend, or to amend the rules, to 
order the discussion of a subject non-debatable under the 
rules, or to take up a question out of its order. 

This may be placed in the constitution or by-laws of the 
society, when it will become paramount law, to which the 
rules of order opposed to it must yield. 

The safest mode, however, will be found to adhere to 
the parliamentary rules. 



X. Matter-of-Course Question. 



To expedite business, that to which no one objects, 
when stated by the chair, is considered ordered. Thus, the 
reception of a report, calling for division, reception of com- 
munication, withdrawal of a motion before the house, leave 
to continue speech in order after being pronounced out of 
order, etc., are permitted without a vote, if no objection be 
made. So in seeking a motion, which strictly (when not a 
question of order, an objection to the consideration of a 
question or a call for the order of the day) requires to be 
seconded, it is always taken for granted that it has been, 
unless some one should violate courtesy so far as to 
inquire. In that case, it must be seconded, or it falls to 
the ground. 

It is considered unfair to insist upon the seconding of a 
motion, because it violates the natural right of a member to 
get a proposition in good faith before the house ; but, if his 
motion be made for dilatory purposes, or to annoy and 
weary out the majority, or be in effect, though not in shape, 
offensive to the house, it is eminently proper that he should 
have at least one member to back him in his attempt ; and 
it is no discourtesy to cut off his discourtesy by demanding 
the seconder. 



THE RULES OF DEBATE. lOrg 



Questions for Debate. 



1. Ought the largest city of a State to be the capital of 
that state ? 

2. Will the coal supply of the United States hold out ? 

3. Must the Chinese go? 

4. Has the abolition of slavery improved the condition 
of the blacks ? 

5. Is universal suffrage a success . 

6. Has the attendance at churches changfed the char- 
acter ? 

7. Was the Tichborne claimant the true heir? 

8. Is the drama immortal ? 

9. Will the planting of forests increase the rainfall ? 

10. Should woman have the right of suffrage ? 

11. Is cremation preferable to burial ? 

12. Ought Governments to own railroads and tele- 
graphs ? 

13. Should the President of the United States be 
elected directly by the people ? 

14. Does Prohibition prohibit? 

15. Should the public museums and parks be opened on 
Sunday ? 

16. Should foreign languages be taught in the Public 
Schools ? 

17. Should the right to vote depend on a property qual- 
ification. 

18. Are early marriages advisable economically? 

19. Have we an aristocracy ? 

20. Could the Government of the United States do as 
well without the Senate ? 

21. Will the colored race become amalgated with the 
whites? 

22. Are competitive examinations a fair test for the fit- 
ness of applicants for office ? 



I020 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



23. Should gold be the standard of value? 

24. Should there be more Arctic expeditions sent out ? 

25. Was Washington a military genius? 

26. Is the assessment of office-holders for political pur- 
poses immoral. 

27. Is the communion a mistake ? 

28. Has the visit of Oscar Wilde had any effect on the 
pulic taste ? 

29. Is the co-education of the sexes advisable? 

30. Has the Government been too liberal in land grants 
to railroads ? 

31. Are inventors sufficiently protected by the patent 
laws ? 

32. Should married women be retained as teachers in 
the Public Schools ? 

T,;^. Should convict labor be allowed to compete with 
honest labor? 

34. Is the present system of trial by jury the best? 

35. Should voting by ballot be introduced into all elec- 
tive and legislative proceedings? 






v^^ 



RBP0Y ^ RBaKSRER, ^ IREyRPRaB 



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5 





8 


8 


8 


8 






























m 


m 


■«■ 


♦ 


lO 


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« 


03 




» 














































" 






. 


M 


m 


^ 


in 


•O 


p* 


oo 


o« 





s 


s. 


i 


O 


.Si 


^ 





s, 


s 


^ 


8 


X 




c 
















































-J 















































TABLES. 



1025 







is 


CO 





s 


8 





On 


m 




8 


vd 



■d 


\d 


1 ? 

vd 


•0 





00 


8 




Ov 

N 


8 

i 




00 
t 










8 


. 

s 


8 


0. 
00 


8 

On 


S> 


8 





8 


s, 


8 


-0 


8 


i 


8 

8. 


8 

CO 


8 

i 


8 

s, 
i 

8 






0. 


-i 








8 


00 


8> 





8 


8 


di 
w 


t^ 


8 


in 




K 


8 

CO 




8 





i 




s 
'■J 


a 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 

00 


8 

8, 


8 
S: 


8 

00 




8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 

pi 
vo 


8 


8 


8 






00 


in 





10 

N 



8 
g. 


00 


00 


*d 


8 






° 


m 


8 
% 


m 


s, 


m 


8 

m 


° 
1 


8 

d 








00 




8 


° 

d^ 


8 




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8 

03 


01 


8 






d 


8 

di 





8 

vd 





8 




8 


8 


8 

3; 


8 




3 
(ft 


00 


»n 




dv 


in 


8 

;8 


in 


S, 


in 


8 

a. 


m 






m 


8 


in 

d 



00 


in 

vd 


8 


V 


8 

i, 


g, 




u 
(ft 


CO g 

i 


8 

00 


8 

\d 


8 


8 


8 
5 


8 

00 

00 


8 

\d 


8 

3" 


8 


8 

8 


8 


8 

■d 


8 


8 


8 

i 


8 


8 
8 


8 
8 





(ft 

5 
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8 
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8 S 

5 8 







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8 


t-^ 


dv 


s? 


8 





8 





00 




^ 





8 


a 


8 


8, 


8 

in 




CO 


8 

i 


C7i 


8 




° 


8 

i 


8. 


8 


^ E> 


8 


8 

8 


8 

m 




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10 10 


8 


vO 





6\ 


8 










8 

vd 


rn 



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d 


K 8 

r^ tn 





8 
1 







u 
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"- 


8 1 8 8 

r'. ■♦ ■^ 


8 

vd 


8 


8 

d 


8 


8 

00 


8 


8 

CO 


8 




8 


8 

dv 


8 8 1 8 

vd 'o d 


8 

d 





1 


8 

d 





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r^ d t^ 
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8 


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8 

00 


in 

CO 


s, 

5 





8 

CO 




fN. 


s, 


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CO in 

M rr, 


° 




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g. 







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d 

ro 


8 

di 


s. 


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8 

00 



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8 
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8 




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8 




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M 


8 


8 

in 





s 
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10 







8 


VO 


Si 


« 


8 


m 

CO 




CO 


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01 


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8 


1 


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CO 


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8 

d 




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1 


8 


8 


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8 


8 


8 


8 


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8 

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8 


8 
8 


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4 


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d 


8 
8 




1 


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8 


8 


8 


8 


i 


1 


8 


8 

00 
1 


1 


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w 


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n 


u 
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- 


u 
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-1 



1 



65 



1026 



THE PRACTICAL HOME EARMER, 



« 

PS 

o 



o 
M 



9 



6 


^ 


fr 


■* 


s 


OS 


CO 


VO 


1 2 


» 


!:; 


s 


■* 







00 


-2 
6\ 


8 




t^ 


7 


■* 


8 


00 

•o 




2 
U 


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^ 


? 


t^ 


1- -* CO 

« a. 1 


^ 


in 



n 


° 1 1 





oc> 


6> 


6 


J? 




rn 


8 


a 


8 






u 




vO 


% 




<0 Q\ m \o 

VO (^ 0\ 


o, 


N 








o\ 


6\ 


d 


CJN 


in 

rn 



vd 


m 

d% 


8 

rn 








m 


o 


0^ 


« 


•= 


" ? ' 


rv 


C 


-8 


a g 

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"d 


4 


o 
di 


o 

d 





8 

rn 


8 

>d 


8 






8 

VO* 




6 


■? 




c» 


- 


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'O 


OS 


s 


^ 


r^ 


s 


N O 

m 1 to 


so 


NO 


00 


a 

d 


t^ 




g, 
s? 


m 

% 


8 


R 




o 
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"s 


N 


t^ 


& 


•s 


to 


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8 


N 


!? 


° 


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8 


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- 


00 


8 

O 


w 


s, 


8 


a 


8 

a 









i» 


? 






■S 


fn 


s 


" 


o 


^ 


■* 


-o 


8, 


« 


en 


00 


.2 

6\ 


o 


N 


a 


vd 


8 

9 


VO 






« 


•* 


«o 


=S- 


5 


N 


"» 


■°- 


00 




° 




a 


« 

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8 

\6 


8 




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00 


-8 
6\ 


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d 


8 


8 


8 

^d 


8 

00 


8 







is 


« 


f 


■^ 


CTi 





■» 


? 


o 


1^ 


IS 


m 


g. 


CO 


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t^ 


00 


d. 


o 


^~ 


ro 


N 


8 


in 






■? 




r^ 


VO 


r-* 


O, 


& 


C7. 


O 


^ 


s, 




S 




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00 di 


in 

d 


O 


8 





8 


g. 






^ 


s 


ro 




"O 


SO 


R 


8> 





M 


lO 


rn 


s, 


■° 


vd 


00 


8 


d 


!? 


a 




8 !? 

in >d 
■* in 




5 


' 


s 


^ 


? 


lO 






CO 

CO 


? 







r 





a 


vS 

>d 


s. 


« 


8 

di 


8 


8 


8 


8 

"4- 


8 

m 









C4 


m 


f^ 


s 


^S' 


R 


00 


~ 


2 


;? 


• 


° 


:a 


vd 


t^ 


& 


VO 

6< 


d 


O 


c 


8 











« 


en 


N 


^ 


-? 


R 


00 


0\ 


o 





::. 


8 


lO 

in 


■d 


t^ 


CO 


6i 


d 


8 





8 


a 









S 


^ 


T 


^ 


■o 


S. 


» 


Ch 


g 


° 




2 




in 
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00* 


di 





a 

8 




8 


m 




6 


o 


8 


? 


^ 


a 


s 


?. 


<g 


8. 


8 8 


8 


8 


8 


8 

so 


8 


8 

CO 


8 
6> 


8 

O 


8 
8 


8 

d 


8 

d 


8 

a 






v. 


" 


- 


' 




■o 


r^ 


00 


Ov 








O 





g, 


^8 


O 


o 


8, 


8 


8 


8 


8 


i 





TABLES. 



1027 





5 


■S 
^ 




8 

00 


OS 




8 



8 




m 







M 


8 
S 






in 

1 


8 


rn 


8 




8 


^ 


8 





s 






8 


a 8 

" 1 ^o 





8 1 

d\ 


Si 


8 





8 





8 




8 


8 


8 








1 




n 




8 




10 




w 


° 

in 




8 




8 


fC 


8 




8 






-0 








fi 


8 


8 


8 

0" 


8 


8 8 8 


8 


8 


8 

a. 


8 
1 


8 


CI 


8' 


8 

i 


8 

8; 





i 







r- 






u 

93- 






in 

6s 


8 
2 


t- 





ff 8 

1 ? 






8 


>d 


a 

d. 


in 


8 


00 


8 










H 


8 





8 

8 


° 8 


S, 8 





8 

in 




GO 


8 
8 




8 




r- 




8 




8 


8 
8 


8 

1" 






u 
(ft- 


:i? 


in in 


8 


10 

rj 


R 8 

m 'J- 


di 





CO 


8 

"d 
0^ 


00 




° 



N 




8 





8 
8s 

'J- 


a 








« 


8 


8 

00 


8 


8 

i 




8 8 


8 

vd 


8 


8 

d 


8 




8 
8^ 


8 

>d 


8 

00 


8 




8 

-1 


8 8 
i 1 






■? 




d 


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cxj a. 


10 







ST 8 


10 





i 


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00 


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a 


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8 a 






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8. 












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8 a 

CO OS 


8 



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00 


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ai ^ 


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8 






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00 


8 

8. 








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1 


8 

1 


10 

5. 





in 


8 


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8 












u 
w- 


: 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 

d 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


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8 


8 


8 

d^ 

w 


8 




8 


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8 









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8 


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8 

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di 





in 


8 


CO 





in 


8 


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a 









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is 




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ro ro "* 3: >C 
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- 


8 

vd 


I 


8 




8 

i 


CO 





a 


8 




8 


8 

8 


8 






2 







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8 
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10 




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8 

5 


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8 


8 
8. 


8 
8 


8 




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d 


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ff. 


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e 


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1 


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« 


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rx 
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eft- 


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c^ 





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s 


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s 


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n 


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m 


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m 


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m 


ro 


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THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 









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000O0O000O'--0000000000' 



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jj M rO ^ >J^ "TO I>-Ci0 0^ O O ' 



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N N fO ^ 'J- "^ u^\0 t~- t^OO 00 O^ 0^ O ' 



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. rOCO »-i>0 •-• TfO^f*! t-^O i^O f^C/D B-sO — -^ONM I^O ^nO fC/D ■-'O 

coooo'-ooooqq-ooqo-'oooooo'-'oooo 

^'i-i M N N N mrO'^'^m"^ "^vC vO r^ t-^ t~>.GO GOC^C^OOO'-''-'NN 



M M N m r<^ ro *:*■ ^ ^ m LO »>-i'0 vo "O t^ r^ t->.CC CO CO o on O O 



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I032 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Cotton Cicker's Calculator. 



l/l 


RATES PER HUNDRED POUNDS. 


►J 


30 

cts. 


35 

cts. 


40 

cts. 


45 

cts. 


50 

CIS. 


55 

cts.' 


60 

cts. 


65 

cts. 


70 

Cts. 


75 

cts. 


80 

cts. 


85 

cts. 


yO 

cts. 


95 

cts. 


I.OO 


1.25 


1.50 


I 

















I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


2 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


I 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


3 


3 


I 


I 


I 


1 


I 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


3 


3 


3 


3 


4 


4 


4 


I 


I 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


4 


4 


4 


5 


6 


5 


I 


2 


2 


2 


2 


3 


3 


3 


3 


4 


4 


4 


4 


,S 


.S 


b 


7 


6 


2 


2 


2 


3 


J 


3 


4 


4 


4 


4 


S 


.5 


5 


b 


b 


7 


9 


7 


2 


2 


3 


3 


3 


4 


4 


5 


S 


.S 


b 


b 


b 


7 


7 


9 


10 


8 


2 


.S 


3 


4 


4 


4 


.S 


S 


b 


b 


b 


7 


7 


8 


8 


10 


12 


9 


3 


3 


4 


4 


4 


.s 


.S 


b 


b 


7 


7 


S 


8 


9 


9 


II 


n 


lO 


^ 


3 


4 


4 


5 


.s 


b 


b 


7 


7 


8 


8 


9 


9 


10 


12 


>s 


15 


4 


3 


6 


7 


7 


8 


9 


10 


10 


II 


12 


'3 


13 


14 


IS 


19 


22 


20 


b 


7 


8 


9 


10 


, II 


12 


«3 


14 


'.S 


lb 


•7 


18 


19 


20 


25 


.30 


25 


7 


9 


10 


II 


12 


•4 


15 


lb 


17 


'9 


20 


21 


22 


24 


2S 


31 


37 


30 


9 


10 


12 


•3 


'.S 


16 


18 


19 


21 


22 


24 


25 


27 


28 


.30 


37 


45 


35 


10 


12 


14 


lb 


■7 


19 


21 


23 


24 


2b 


28 


.30 


31 


33 


3S 


44 


52 


40 


II 


14 


lb 


18 


20 


22 


24 


2b 


28 


.30 


32 


.34 


3b 


3« 


40 


50 


60 


45 


i,> 


I6 


iS 


20 


22 


25 


27 


29 


3' 


34 


3t> 


3« 


40 


43 


45 


5b 


67 


50 


IS 


17 


20 


22 


2.? 


27 


30 


32 


3S 


37 


40 


42 


4S 


47 


so 


b2 


75 


55 


16 


19 


22 


2,S 


27 


.30 


?.}, 


3C 


3« 


41 


44 


47 


49 


S2 


55 


bg 


82 


eo 


IS 


21 


24 


27 


30 


33 


3b 


39 


42 


4S 


48 


.SI 


54 


S7 


60 


75 


90 


b5 


19 


23 


2b 


29 


32 


3f 


.39 


42 


4S 


49 


52 


.ss 


S8 


b2 


bS 


81 


97 


70 


21 


24 


28 


31 


3.S 


3S 


42 


4,S 


49 


,S2 


.Sb 


.S9 


bo 


bb 


70 


«7 


I OS 


75 


22 


26 


30 


34 


37 


4' 


4S 


49 


S2 


Sb 


bo 


b4 


b7 


71 


75 


94 


I 12 


80 


24 


2S 


32 


3b 


40 


44 


48 


S2 


S6 


bo 


b4 


b8 


72 


7b 


80 


I 00 


I 20 


»5 


2S 


30 


34 


3S 


42 


47 


SI 


ss 


Sq 


b4 


b8 


72 


7b 


81 


85 


1 Ob 


« 27 


90 


27 


3' 


3& 


40 


4,S 


49 


S4 


5« 


63 


67 


72 


7b 


81 


«,S 


90 


I 12 


I 35 


95 


2S 


33 


3« 


43 


47 


52 


57 


b2 


bb 


71 


7b 


81 


«S 


90 


95 


I 19 


I 42 



Short Insurance Rates. 



Policy for 


Policy for 


Policy for 


Policy for 


Policy for 


Charge this proper- 


I year. 


2 years. 


3 years. 


4 years. 


5 years. 


Premium. 


I mo. 


2 mo. 


3 "lo- 


4 mo. 


5 mo. 


20 per cent. 


2 " 


4 ' 




6 " 


8 " 


10 " 


30 " 


3 " 


6 ' 




9 " 


12 " 


IS " 


40 " 


4 " 


8 ' 




12 " 


16 " 


20 " 


so " 


5 " 


10 ' 




15 " 


20 " 


25 " 


bo " 


6 " 


12 ' 




18 " 


24 " 


30 " 


70 " 


7 " 


14 ' 




21 " 


28 " 


35 " 


75 " 


8 " 


16 ' 




24 " 


32 " 


40 " 


80 " 


9 " 


iS ' 




27 " 


36 " 


45 " 


8s " 


10 " 


20 ' 




30 ■' 


40 " 


50 " 


90 " 


II " 


22 " 


33 " 


44 " 


55 " 


95 " 



TABLES. 



1033 



Expense ef B©ar?d E'ei? Bay. 

For rates not given in this table the result may be obtained by addition or multiplication. 



Days. 


50 c. 


75 c. 


$1.00 


$1.25 


$1.50 


$••75 


$2.00 


$2.25 


$2.50 


$3.00 


I 


07 


.11 


•«4 


.18 


.21 


25 


•29 


•32 


•36 


■43 


2 


• 14 


.21 


.29 


.36 


•43 


•50 


• 57 


.64 


• 71 


.86 


3 


.21 


•32 


•43 


•54 


.64 


•75 


.86 


•9S 


1.07 


1.29 


4 


.29 


•43 


■57 


• 7' 


.86 


I 00 


1. 14 


1.29 


••43 


1. 71 


5 


.36 


■ .54 


• 7« 


.89 


1.07 


I.2S 


1.43 


1. 61 


•791 


2.14 


6 


■43 


.64 


.82 


1.07 


1 .29 


1.50 


1. 71 


••93 


2.14 


2.57 


7 


•5° 


.75 


1. 00 


••25 


••50 


1.75 


2.00 


2.2s 


2.50 


3.00 


Days. 


$3-50 


$4.00 


$450 


$5.00 $6.00 


$7.00 


$8.00 


$g.oo 


$10.00 


$20.00 


I 


■SO 


•57 


.64 


.71 .86 


1. 00 


1. 14 


1.29 


'■43 


2.86 


2 


1. 00 


1. 14 


1.29 


'•43 


1. 71 


2.00 


2.29 


2.57 


2.86 


4.29 


3 


1.50 


1. 71 


'•93 


2.14 


2-57 


3.00 343 


3-86 


4.29 


7.58 


. 4 


2.00 


2.29 


257 


2.86 


3.43 


4.00 4.57 


5'4 


57' 


11.45 


5 


2.50 


2.86 


3^2I 


357 


4.29 


5. 00 


5.71 


6-43 


714 


'4 30 


6 


3.00 


343 


3.86 


4.29 


5^i4 


6.00 


6.86 


7. 71 


8.57 


17.15 


7 


3-50 


4.00 


450 


5. 00 


6.00 


7.00 


8.00 


9.00 


10.00 


20.00 



How Interest Accumulates. 

If one dollar be invested, and the interest added to the principal, annually, at the 
rates named, we shall have the following result as the accumulation of one hundred 
years: 

One Dollar 100 years, at i per cent $2. 75 

" 2 " 7.25 

2% " 11.75 

3 " '9-25 

3K " 31-25 

4 " 50.50 

a,y2 " 81.50 

" " 5 " '3'So 

6 " 340.00 

7 " 868.00 

" " 8 " 2,203.00 

9 " 5.54300 

" " 10 " 13,809.00 

" " 12 " 34,675.00 

" " «S " 1,174,405.00 

" " 18 " 15,145,007.00 

" " 24 " 2,551,799,404.00 



I034 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Daily Savings at Compound Interest. 



Daily Savings. 



2j{ cents. 
S'A 



II 

27/2 

$1.10 

'•37 
1.74 



Yearly. 



Ten Years. 



10 


$ 130 


20 


260 


30 


390 


40 


520 


50 


650 


100 


1.300 


200 


2,600 


400 


5,200 


500 


6,500 


1,000 


13,000 



Fifty Years. 



? 2,900 

5,800 

8,700 

11,600 

14,500 

29,000 

58,000 

n 6,000 

145,000 

290,000 



Compound Interest Tables. 



YEARS. 


J per cent. 


^ per cent. 


5 per eeitt. 


6 per cent. 


7 per cent. 


I 


1.03000 


1.04000 


1.05000 


1.06000 


1.070000 


2 


1.06090 


1.08460 


1. 10250 


1.12360 


2. 144900 


3 


1.09273 


1. 12486 


1. 15762 


1. 19102 


1.225043 


4 


I.12551 


1,16986 


1. 2155' 


1.26248 


I.31B796 


5 


1. 15927 


1. 21665 


1.27628 


'•33823 


1.402552 


6 


1. 19405 


1.26532 


1.42010 


1. 41852 


1.500730 


7 


1.22987 


'•31593 


1,40710 


'•50363 


1.605781 


8 


1.26677 


'•36S57 


'•47795 


'•59385 


I.718186 


9 


1-30477 


'•42331 


'•55'33 


1.69848 


1.838459 


10 


I 34392 


1.48024 


1.62S89 


1.79085 


1.967151 


II 


'•38423 


'•53945 


I ■ 71034 


1.89830 


2. 104852 


12 


1.42576 


1. 00103 


1.795S6 


2.01220 


2.252192 


13 


1.46853 


1.66507 


1.88165 


2. '3293 


2.409845 


14 


1. 51259 


1. 73168 


'•97993 


2.^6090 


2^578534 


15 


■•55797 


1.S0094 


2.07893 


2.39656 


2.759031 


16 


1. 6047 1 


1.8729S 


2. 18287 


2^54035 


2.952164 


17 


1.65285 


1.94790 


2.29262 


2.69277 


3.I5S81S 


18 


'•70343 


2.02582 


2.40602 


2.85134 


337993' 


•9 


'•7535« 


2. 10685 


2.52695 


2.02560 


3.616526 


20 


1. 8061 1 


2. 19112 


2^65330 


3.20713 


■ 3.8696S4 



Example. — At 5 per cent, compound interest, what will $1,000 amount to in seven 
years? The table shows that $1 in seven years at 5 per cent, compound interest amounts 
to $1.407. 10, which amount, multiplied by 1,000, equals $1,407. 10. 

Short Interest Rule. 

To FIND the interest on a given sum for any number of days, at any rate of interest, 
multiply the principal by the number of days, and divide as follows:j 

At 10 per cent., by 36 

At 12 per cent., by 30 

At 15 per cent., by 24 



At 5 per cent., by 72 

At 6 per cent., by 60 

At 7 per cent. , by 52 

At 8 per cent. , by 45 

At 9 per cent. , by 40 



At 20 per cent., by 18 



TABLES. 



I03; 



Time in Which Money Doubles. 





Simple Int. 


Compound Int. 




Simple Int. 


Compound Int. 


2 

3 


50 years. 

40 years. 

33 years, 4 mos. 

28 years, 20S days. 

25 years. 

22 years, 81 days. 


35 years. 

28 years, 26 days. 
23 years, 164 days. 
20 years, 54 days. 
1 7 years, 246 days. 
15 years, 273 days. 


I 

7 
8 

9 

10 


20 years. 

16 years, 8 mos. 

14 years, 104 days, 

I2>2 years. 

1 1 years, 40 days. 

10 years. 


14 years, 75 days. 
II years,327 days. 
10 years, 89 days. 
9 years, 2 days. 
8 years, 16 days. 
7 year.s, 100 days. 



l^RflaSFIGFli (^Fli(2"taiiflJFI8F^S. 



To Measure Wells or Cisterns- 

Square the diameter in inches, multiply by the decimal 
.7854, and the product by the depth of the well or cistern 
in inches. The result will be the full capacity of the well 
in cubic inches. If the actual quantity of water be sought, 
multiply by the depth of water in inches, and in either case 
divide by 231 for the number of gallons. 



Circular Cisterns, One Foot in Depth, Computed. 



DIAMETER 




CONTENTS 


DIAMETER 




CONTENTS 


IN INCHES. 




IN GALLONS. 


IN INCHES. 




IN GALLONS. 


12 - 


- 


- - 5-875 


18 - 


- 


- 13-218 


15 - 


- 


- - 9.18 


20 - - 


- 


- 16.32 


16 - 


- 


- -10.44 


21 - - 


- 


- 18. 



For any greater depth than one foot, multiply by the 
number of feet and fractions of a foot. As the areas of 
circles, and consequently thie capacities of circular cisterns 
of equal depth, vary as the squares of their diameters, it is 
unnecessary to multiply calculations. For instance, should 
it be required to find the contents of a circular cistern of 



1036 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

two feet diameter, say as the square of one i : to the square 
of 2: 5.875, that is, as 1 : 4: : 5.875 and 5.875x=23.5= the 
contents of such cistern. This formula will apply to any 
diameter; for three feet, multiply by 9; for four feet, multiply 
by 16, etc. ; for 5, by 25. 

The Amount of Rainfall on a Building. 

In this calculation the amount of annual rainfall is 
assumed to be thirty-six inches, which is about the average 
for the Northern States. Find the area covered by the 
building, in square inches. Multiply it by 36, the depth of 
rainfall; divide the product by 231, the cubic inches in a 
gallon, and the quotient will be the number of gallons of 
water shed by the roof in one year. 

The Diameter of a Circular Cistern that will Contain the 
Rainfall on a Building. 

The side of a square is to the diameter of a circle of 
equal area as i: 1.128. The square root of the area of the 
building, multiplied by 1.128, will be the required diameter, 
assuming depth of cistern and rainfall to be equal. Allow- 
ance must, of course, be made for greater or less depth of 
cistern than three feet, as well as for daily or occasional 
use of rainwater. 

The Per Cent, of Profit or Loss. 



Add two ciphers to the difference between the cost and 
selling price, divide by the cost, and the quotient will be 
the gain or loss per cent. 

Weights of Hay by Measurement. 

Four hundred cubic feet of dry meadow hay are esti- 
mated at one ton weight. The actual measurement to 
make a ton will be modified by the density of the volume 



PRACTICAL CALCULATIONS. " IO37 

of hay, the pressure it has been subjected to as in a large 
or long-standing stack, and the like. In barns the volume 
is variously estimated from 400 to 550, according to coarse- 
ness and the length of time it has been piled up. Find the 
cubic contents by measuring the three dimensions of the 
pile in feet, and divide by 400, 450, 500 or 550 (according 
to circumstances, as explained), and the quotient will be 
the number of tons, approximately. 



Weights of Cattle by Measurement. 



To find the approximate weight, measure as follows : 
I. The girth behind the shoulders. 2. The length from 
the fore part of the shoulder-blade along the back to the 
bone at the tail, in a vertical line with the buttocks. Then 
multiply the square of the girth, in feet, by 5 times the 
length, in feet. Divide the product by 1.5 for average cattle 
(if cattle be very fat, by 1.425 ; if very lean, by 1.575); and 
the quotient will be the dressed weight of the quarters. 
Thus : The girth of a steer is 6.5 feet, and the length from 
the shoulder-blade to the tail-bone is 5.25. The square 
of 6.5 is 42.25, and 5 times 5.25 is 26.25. Multiplying 
these together gives 1 109.0625, which, when divided by 
1.5, produces 739.379 pounds, the approximate net weight 
of the steer after being dressed. 



The Number of Shingles Required for a Roof. 



Multiply the length of the ridge-pole by twice the length 
of the rafter, and the product by 8 if the shingle is to be 
exposed /^% inches to the weather, and by 7 1-5 if exposed 
5 inches. 



1038 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The Number of Square Yards in a Floor or Wall. 



Multiply the length and width of the floor, or height and 
width of the wall, in feet and fractions of a foot, divide by 
9, and the quotient is the number ot square yards. 



The Number of Bricks Required for a Building. 



The average brick is 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 2 
inches thick, or 64 (8x4x2) cubic inches ; 1728 cubic inches 
make i cubic foot, and 27 bricks make 1728 (64x27) cubic 
inches. In laying bricks, i -6 is allowed for mortar, or ^yi 
out of every 27, leaving 22j^ actual bricks for each cubic 
foot. Therefore, multiply the dimensions — length, height 
and thickness — in feet and fractions of a foot, of the several 
brick walls, and the product by 22^, and the result will be 
the number of bricks required. Multiply by 20, instead of 
22^, if the bricks are larger than the average above given. 
Allowance should be made for chimneys, projections for 
mantels, and the like, on the same basis. 



The Number of Perches of Stone Required for a Wall or Cellar. 



The perch of stone is now computed at a perch, or 16.5 
feet in length, by 1.5 feet in width, and i foot in height, or 
24.75 (16. 5x1. 5x1) cubic feet. Of this amount 1-9, 2.75 
cubic feet, is allowed for mortar and filling. Multiply the 
three dimensions of the wall or walls in feet — width, height 
and thickness — and divide by 22 (24.75 — --75)- if the needed 
quality of stone is the subject of inquiry, or by 24.75 if it be 
sought to ascertain the amount of masonry in the wall or 
cellar. 



PRACTICAL CALCULATIONS. IO39 



The Number of Feet, Board Measure, in a Lot of Boards, 
Planks, Flooring, Scantling, Joists, Sills or Beams. 



The foot of board measure is a superficial or square 
foot, I inch thick. Multiply the product of the width and 
thickness of each board, plank or other article, in inches, 
by the length in feet ;jid fractions of a foot, divide by 12, 
and the quotient will be the number of feet of board-mea- 
sure. In flooring, allowance must be made for rabbeting, 
the proportion varying with the depth of the groove and 
the width of the boards. 



The Cubic Feet in Squared Timber or Beams. 



Multiply as in board-measure, but divide by 144 instead 
of 12, or multiply the three dimensions in feet and fractions 
of a foot. 



The Number of Cubic Feet in a Round Log of Uniform Diam- 
eter. 

Square the diameter in inches, multiply by .7854, and 
multiply this product by the length in feet, divide by 144, 
and the quotient is the number of cubic feet. 



Estimate of the Number of Cubic Feet in the Trunk of a 

Standing Tree. 



Find the circumference in inches, divide by 3.1416, 
square the quotient, multiply by the length in feet, divide by 
144, deduct about one-tenth for thickness of bark, and the 
result will be, approximately, the number of cubic feet. 



I040 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



The Number of Feet, Board Measure, in a Log of 
Unequal Diameters. 



Square the smallest diameter in inches, multiply by .7854, 
and the product by the length of the log in feet, divide by 
12, and the quotient will be the number of feet of board 
measure, approximately. 

The Area of a Circle. 



Of all plane figures, the circle is the most capricious, or 
has the greatest area within the same limits. It is geo- 
metrically demonstrable that it has the same area as a right- 
angled triangle with a base equal to its circumference, and 
a perpendicular equal to its radius, that is, half the product 
of the radius and circumference. It is obviously larger than 
any figure, of however many sides, inscribed within its peri- 
meter, and smaller than any circumscribed polygon. As a 
result of laborious calculations on this basis (pushed in one 
instance to 600 places of decimals without reaching the end), 
it has been ascertained that the ratio of the diameter to the 
circumference of any circle (sufificiently exact for all prac- 
tical purposes), is as 1:3.1416 (3. 141592653X), or in whole 
numbers, approximately, as 7:22, or more nearly as 113:355. 
Hence, to find the circumference or diameter, the other 
quantity being known, multiply or divide by 3.1416 ; and to 
find the area, multiply half the diameter by half the circum- 
ference, or the square of the diameter by .7854 (3.1416x4). 

Capacity or Contents of a Granary, Bin, Crib or Wagon. 



Multiply the three dimensions — the length, width and 
depth — in feet (the inches, if any, being reduced to frac- 
tions of a foot), multiply the product by the decimal .803564 
— or deduct one-fifth, which is sufficiently exact for ordinary 



PRACTICAL CALCULATIONS. IO41 

purposes — ana the result is the number of bushels. Where 
the wagon or crib flares considerably in length or width, it 
will be necessary to obtain a mean dimension. This is done 
by taking the longest and shortest measures, with one or 
more intermediate ones, and dividing the sum of all by the 
number taken. The quotient will be the mean dimension 
sought. The greater the flare the larger the number of 
intermediate dimensions that should be taken to idsure accur- 
acy. Corn in the ear, when first cribbed, is estimated at 
twice the bulk of shelled corn. 

To Measure Corn or Similar Commodity on a Floor. 



Pile up the commodity in the form of a cone ; find the 
diameter in feet ; multiply the square of the diameter by 
.7854, and the product by one-third the height of the cone 
in feet ; from this last product deduct one-fifth of itself, or 
multiply it by .803564, and the result will be the number of 
bushels. 

To Measure Casks or Barrels. 

Find mean diameter by adding to head diameter two- 
thirds (if staves are but slightly curved, three-fifths) of dif- 
ference between head and bung diameters, and dividing by 
two. Multiply square of mean diameter in inches by .7854, 
and the product by the height of the cask in inches. The 
result will be the number of cubic inches. Divide by 231 
for standard or wine gallons, and by 282 for beer gallons. 

The Number of Cords in a Pile of Wood. 



A CORD of wood is four feet wide, four feet high and 
eight feet long, or 128 (4x4x8) cubic feet. Multiply the 
three dimensions — length, height and width — of the pile in 



1042 



THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



feet, divide by 128, and the quotient will be the number of 
cords. The odd inches in any or all of the three dimen- 
sions must be reduced to decimals or common fractions of 
a foot, before beginning to multiply. 



Contents of Fields and Lots. 



The following 


table 


will assist 


accurate estimate of the 


amount of 


under cultivation : 






10 


rods 


X 


16 rods 


8 


( ( 


t ( 


20 " 


5 


( ( 


it 


32 " 


4 


it 


it 


40 " 


5 


yards 


it 


968 


10 


1 1 


i i 


484 yards 


20 


tt 


it 


242 " 


40 


i . 


it 


121 " 


80 


< « 


It 


6o}4 " 


70 


(< 


tt 


69% " 


220 


feet 


• ( 


198 feet 


440 


it 


ft 


99 " 


no 


*i 


tt 


369 " 


60 


ii 


tt 


726 " 


120 


*i 


it 


363 " 


240 


(f 


tt 


i8i>^ " 


200 


f* 


tt 


108/0 " 


100 


It 


It 


H5A " 


100 


'• 


*' 


108/0 " 


25 


t< 


tt 


100 


25 


U 


tt 


no " 


25 


it 


tt 


120 " 


25 


it 


tt 


125 


25 


it 


tt 


150 " 


2178 


square 


feet 




4356 


i i 


i i 




6534 


It 


It 




8712 


it 


n 





/3 

% 
•0574 
.0631 
.0688 
.0717 
.109 

•05 
.10 

.15 
.20 



A. 



PRACTICAL CALCULATIONS. 



1043 



10890 square feet 

13068 

15246 

17424 

19603 

21780 

32670 

34848 



25 
30 

35 
40 

45 
50 

75 
80 



Boxes of DiflFerent Measure. 



A BOX 24 inches long by 16 inches wide, and 28 inches 
deep, will contain a barrel (3 bushels). 

A box 24 inches long by 16 inches wide, and 14 inches 
deep, will contain half a barrel. 

A box 16 inches square and 8 2-5 inches deep will con- 
tain one bushel. 

A box 16 inches by 8 2-5 inches wide, and 8 inches deep, 
will contain half a bushel. 

A box 8 inches by 8 2-5 inches square, and 8 inches deep, 
will contain one peck. 

A box 8 inches by 8 inches square, and 4 1-5 inches 
deep, will contain one gallon. 

A box 7 inches by 4 inches square, and 4 4-5 inches 
deep, will contain half a gallon. 

A box 4 inches by 4 inches square, and 4 1-5 inches 
deep, will contain one quart. 

In purchasing anthracite coal, 20 bushels are generally 
allowed foi a ton. 



Pensien Cr\\)s. 



/T^NY person who has been, since the 4th of March, 
A^>^ 1 86 1, disabled in the mihtary or naval service of the 
United States, or in its marine corps, shall, upon making 
due proof of the fact, be placed on the list of invalid pen- 
sioners of the United States. No claim for pension on the 
part of a State militiaman, or non-enlisted person, on ac- 
count of disability from wounds received in battle, shall be 
valid unless prosecuted to a successful issue prior to July 4, 
1874. 

Rates of Pension Per Month. 



DISABILITIES. 




?3 

3 


Rate from 

March 3, 

1865. 


Rate from 

June 6, 

1866. 


OO 3 

to 
• 4^ 


^ V 
(T) 



3 


Act of 
June,- '80.* 


Loss ofboth hands - - - 


$2S 


00 


- 


- 


- 


$M 


^=1 


$72 00 


Total disabiUty in both hands, 




_ 


- 


$2=; 


GO 


/il 


2S 


- - 


Loss of both feet -• - - 


20 


00 


- 




- 


SI 


2S 


72 00 


Total disability in both feet, 


- 


- 


- 


20 


00 


31 


2S 


- - 


Losi of sight of both eyes - 


2S 


GO 


- 


- 


- 


31 


21: 


72 00 


Loss of sight of one eye, the 


















sight of the other having 


















been previously lost - - 


- 




- 


2=; 


00 


31 


2S 


72 00 


Loss of one hand and one foot 


- 




20 00 




- 


24 


OG 


36 00 


Total disability in one hand 


















and one foot - - - - 


- 


- 


- 


20 


GO 


24 


GO 


- - 


Any disability equivalent to 


















the loss of a hand or foot 


- 


- 


- 


IS 


00 


18 


GG 


- - 


Any disability incapacitating 


















for the performance of any 


















manual labor - - - - 


- 


- 


- 


20 


OG 


24 


00 


- - 


Any disability resulting in a 


















condition requiring the reg- 
















June 


ular aid and attendance of 
















4, 74. 


another person - - - 


- 


- 


- - 


2.S 


00 


31 


25 


50 00 


Total deafness - - - - 


- 


- 


- - 


- 


■ 


13 


GG 


- - 



•Rate from June, 1880, in case the disability is permanent and requires the regular aid and attendance 
of another person. An applicant for increase of pension from $31.25 to $72 per month must furnish the 
testimony of his physician, or of two credible witnesses, to prove the extent to which he requires the aid 
and attendance of another persun. 

1044 



PENSION LAWS. IO45 

The same provision of law which entitles to $31.25 per 
month entitles to $72 per month, provided that in the latter 
case the disability is permanent. The loss of a leg above 
the knee, or an arm at or above the elbow, entitles the per- 
son so disabled to a pension of $24 per month after June 4, 
1874. 

The rates of $io, $12, $14 and $16 per month will be- 
allowed in cases in which the disability bears the same pro- 
portion to that produced by the loss of a hand or foot that 
those rates bear to the rate of $18 per month. 

The phrase "total disability" is construed to refer to a 
total disability for the performance of manual labor requiring 
severe and continuous exertion. The phrase "any manual 
labor" includes the lighter kinds of labor which require edu- 
cation and skill. 

The first step to be taken by an applicant for pension is 
to file a declaration before a court of record, or before some 
officer thereof having custody of its seal, setting forth the 
ground upon which he claims a pension. Blank forms of 
declaration are furnished upon request at Commissioner of 
Pension's office. The identity of the applicant must be shown 
by the testimony of two creditable witnesses, who must appear 
with him before the officer by whom the declaration may be 
taken. A pensioner who may deem himself entitled to an 
increase of pension should file a declaration on a blank form 
furnished for the purpose, setting forth the ground upon 
which he claims such increase. A declaration for increase 
of pension may be taken before any officer duly authorized 
to administer oaths. 

All invalid pensions granted under the general law will 
terminate at re-enlistment, or when the disabilities for which 
they were allowed shall have ceased. 

A widow's pension will .end at her remarriage, and not be 
renewable should she again become a widow. 

Pensions allowed to dependent mothers and sisters end 
at remarriage, or when dependence ceases. Pensions allowed 
to dependent fathers end when the dependence ceases. 



1046 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The name of any pensioner shall be stricken from the roll 
upon his or her failure to claim a pension for three years 
after the same shall have become due. 

To entitle a widow or children to pension, the death of 
the husband or father must have been the result of injury 
received or disease contracted under such circumstances as 
would have entitled him to an invalid pension had he been 
disabled. 

A widow is entitled to a pension of the same rate as that 
to which the husband would have been entitled had he been 
totally disabled. In addition to this rate, she will be allowed 
$2 per month for each child of the officer or soldier under 
the age of sixteen years. 

In the applications of widows and children for pensions, 
they will be required to prove that the death of husband 
resulted from the injury or disease on account of which his 
pension ; and, if the husband had not established his claim 
for an invalid pension, the widow shall prove origin and 
cause of the fatal disease. Widows will be required to 
prove their marriage to the person on account of whose 
service and death the claim is made ; also proof of dates of 
births of children by copy of church record. 

A mother claiming a pension must prove the cause and 
date of the death of her son ; her relationship ; that he 
left no widow or minor child or children surviving ; and 
her dependence upon him for support. 

A father claiming pension on account of the death of 
his son, upon whom he was dependent for support, must 
prove facts similar to those required of a mother. 

The claim on behalf of minor brothers and sisters 
should be made by a guardian duly appointed. 

In administration of the pension laws, no distinction is 
made between brothers and sisters of the half blood and 
those of the whole blood. Evidence in a claim for pension 
cannot be verified before an officer who is engaged in the 
prosecution of such claim. 



PENSION LAWS. IO47 

In claims for increase o! pension, a fee of $iowill be 
allowed. All letters of enquiry relative to claims pending in 
Pension Office should give the number of the claim. 

No sum of money due, or to become due, to any pen- 
sioner, shall be liable to attachment, levy or seizure, under 
any legal or equitable process. 

Agents for paying pensions shall receive two per centum 
on all disbursements made by them to pensioners. 

No agent, or attorney, or other person, shall demand or 
receive any other compensation for his services in prosecut- 
ing a claim for pension or bounty-land than such as the 
Commissioner of Pensions shall direct to be paid to him, 
not exceeding $io. 

Every officer, or enlisted or hired man, who has lost a 
limb, or the use of a limb, in the military or naval service 
of the United States, is entitled to receive, once every five 
years, an artificial limb or apparatus, or commutation there- 
for. The period of five years is reckoned from the filing of 
the first application after June 17, 1870. Then;ommutation 
allowed in case of the amputation of a leg is $75 ; in all 
other cases, $50. Applications for artificial limbs should be 
transmitted through the proper pension agent to the sur- 
geon-general of the army. 




WnE WSRliS'S fR0ERESS. 



Air-Balloons invented by Gusmac, a Jesuit, in 1729. 
Revived in France by M. Montgolfier, 1783. 

iR-GuNS invented by Guhr, of Nuremberg, in 1656. 
AiR-PuMPS invented in 1650. 
Algebra known in Europe in 1300; in general use in 

1590. 

Almanacs first published in 1470, by Martin Hkus, at 
Buda. The first almanac in England was printed at Ox- 
ford, in 1673. 

Alien AND Sedition Acts passed by Congress in 1798 ; 
expired by limitation, Jan. 26, 1801. 

Alphabet. The Ionic alphabet was introduced 399 years 
before Christ. Before this time the Greek letters were but 
sixteen in number. 

Anesthesia discovered in 1844. 

Anchors invented in 587. 

Anti-Slaverv Society (American) organized Dec. 1833, 
at Philadelphia. 

Argand Lamps invented by Aime Argand, of Geneva, 
about the year 1782. 

Arquebus introduced about 1520, and remained in use 
until after 1567, when the matchlock supplanted it. In 1630 
the flint lock was invented, and the musket was introduced. 

Banking. The first bank in Europe was the Bank of 
Venice, 1171. The Bank of England was established in 
1694, the Bank of North America, 1781. 

Barometers invented in 1626; wheel barometers in 1668, 
phosphoric in 1675, pendant in 1695, and marine in 1700. 

Battering- Ram invented 441 years before Christ. 

Bayonets invented at Bayonne in 1670. First used in 
England in 1693. At first these had wooden handles fit- 



1048 



THE world's progress. IO49 

ting into the guns, but in 1699 the socket bayonet was intro- 
duced. 

Bellows. — Strabo informs us that the invention of bel- 
lows is due to the Scythian philosopher, Anacharsis, who 
lived in the time of Solon. 

Bells invented by Paulinus, bishop of Nola, in Cam- 
pagnia, in or about the year 400. They were first used in 
France in 550, in Greece in 864, and in the churches of 
Europe in 900. In Switzerland they first appeared in 1020. 

Blankets first made in England in 1340. 

Blood, circulation of, discovered in 16 19. 

Blue (Prussian) first made in Berlin, in 1704. 

Bombs invented at Venlo, in 1588, and used first in the 
service of France in 1634. 

Books, in their present form, were invented by Attalus, 
king of Pergamus, in 887. 

Boots invented 907 years before Christ. 

Boston Fire Nov. 9,1872. Loss $73,600,000. 

Bread first made with yeast by the English about 1650. 

Bricks first used in England by the Romans. In 1625 
their regular size was fixed by Charles I. 

Bridges. The first bridge of stone in England was that 
built at Bow, near Stratford, in 1087. 

Buckles invented about 1680. 

Bullets of stone used in 1514. Iron bullets first men- 
tioned in 1550. 

Bullion (Assaying of) introduced in 1354. 

Butter. — The first mention of butter is that of Hero- 
dotus, who, in describing the Scythians, says: "These 
people pour the milk of their mares into wooden vessels, 
cause it to be violently stirred or shaken by their blind 
slaves, and separate the part that arises to the surface, as 
they consider it more valuable than that which is collected 
below it." Soon after the death of Hippocrates, we read 
that the Greeks thought the butter which the Thracian ate 
a wonderful kind of food. The ancient Ethiopians appear 



I050 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

to have used butter as food. The ancient Germans were 
butter-makers. 

Calico-Printing and the Dutch-loom engine first used 
in 1670. 

Camera Obscura invented by Baptista Porta, in 1515. 

Canal. — The first English navigable canal was finished 
in 1 1 34. 

Candles ot tallow took the place of prepared splinters 
of wood in 1290. 

Cannon invented in 1330. First used by the English in 
1346 ; used first in England in 1445 ; in Denmark in 1354 ; 
by the Spaniards in 1406. The first iron cannon were made 
in England in 1547. 

Caps first worn in 1449. 

Cards invented for the amusement of Charles VI. in 
1380. 

Carriages introduced in England in 1580 ; in Vienna in 

1515- 

Chain Shot invented by De Wit, Dutch Admiral, in 

1666. 

Chess invented 608 years before Christ. 

Chicago Fire, Oct. 8-1 1, 1871. Loss, $290,000,000; 
about 250 persons perished, and 98,500 rendered destitute ; 
25,000 buildings destroyed. 

Chimes on Bells invented at Alvest in 1847. 

Chimneys first introduced in England in 1200, but at 
first only in the kitchen or large hall, 

China made at Dresden, in Saxony, in 1706; at Chelsea 
(England) in 1752 ; by Mr. Wedgewood in 1762. 

Civil Rights Bill passed by Congress 1866. 

Civil Service Reform Bill introduced in Congress Jan. 
20, 1867. Act for rules to be prescribed by the President 
for civil service examinations passed March 3, 1871, and 
commissioners for that purpose appointed June 28, with G. 
W. Curtis as chairman. 

Clay's Compromise, tariff, 1833 ; slavery, 1850. 



THE world's progress. IO51 

Clocks, called water-clocks, were first used in Rome 158 
years before Christ. Clocks and dials were first put up in 
churches in 913. In 801 clocks were made to strike the 
hour by the Arabians, and by the Italians in 1300. A 
striking-clock was used at Westminster in 1368. The first 
portable striking-clock was made in 1530. Richard Harris, 
of London, invented clocks with pendulums about 1641. To 
distinguish these from dials, they were first called sun, 
" nocturnal, or night-dials." Repeating clocks and watches 
were invented by a maker named Barlow in 1676. 

Coaches. — Covered carriages appear to have been used 
by the old Romans. In the year 1588, "Duke Julius of 
Brunswick published an act against riding in coaches. 
Philip II, of Pomerania-Stettin, published a similar docu- 
ment in 1608. Coaches appear to have been used in France 
very early. An ordinance of Philip the Fair, issued in 1294, 
for suppressing luxury, forbids citizens' wives to ride in 
coaches. Coaches were first used in England in 1565, the 
first being that made for the Earl of Rutland. In 1601 an 
act was passed to prevent men riding in coaches, on the 
score of its effeminacy. Coaches began to be common in 
1605, and were petitioned against by the saddlers and 
others. Hackney coaches introduced in 1634. In 1661, a 
stage coach was two days going from London to Oxford, 
and the "Flying Coach" was thirteen hours, even in sum- 
mer weather, when the roads were at their best. 

Coal first dug for fuel in 1234. 

Coin. — Silver was first coined by Phidon, King of 
Argos, 869 B. C. In Rome, silver money was first 
coined 269 B, C. Gold and silver coins first used in 
the East. Coin first used in Britain 25 B. C, and in 
Scotland not until 248 years later. In iioi, round 
coins were first used in England. Silver halfpence and 
farthings were coined in the reign of John, and pence 
were the largest current coins. Gold was first coined in 
England in 1087; in Bohemia in 1301. In 1531, groats and 



IOS2 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

half-groats were the largest silver coin in England. Gold 
was first coined in Venice in 1346. Shillings were first 
coined in England in 1068. Crowns and half-crowns were 
first coined in 1551. Henry III introduced copper money 
into France in 1580. Copper money introduced into Eng- 
land by James I in 1620. The process of milling coii« 
introduced in 1662. The mint of the United States of 
America was established in 1793. 

Coining with a die first invented in 161 7, and first used 
in England in 1620. 

Compass (Mariner's) invented in China 11 20 B. C. ; 
used in Venice 1260; improved at Naples in 1302. Its 
variations observed in 1500; its dipping in 1576. 

Copyright. — The copyright law was first passed by 
Congress in 1 791, the term being made fourteen years; 
amended, and term extended to 28 years, with renewal for 
14 more, in 1831. 

Cotton. — The first raised in tue United States was in 
162 1, in Virginia; first exported from U. S. in 1747. 

Cotton Gin invented in 1893, by Eli Whitney. 

Culverins first made in England in 1534. 

Daguerreotypes first made in France, 1839, 

Declaration of American Independence, 1776; recog- 
nition, 1782. 

Delf (or Delft) earthenware invented at Firenze 
in 1450. 

Diamonds first cut and polished at Bruges in 1489. 

Dice invented 1500 B. C. 

Dipping Needle invented by Robert Norman, 1580. 

Distilling first practiced in 11 50. 

Diving-Bell. — This machine appears to have been 
known in 1509, and repeated mention of its use occurs in 
historical chronicles from that date. 

Electric Light. — Invented at London, in 1874, by two 
Russians, Lodyguin and Kosloff. The Jablochkoff candle 
proved successful in 1878 in lighting the streets of Paris. 



THE WORLD'S PROGRESS. I OS 3 

In the United States, the Sawyer-Man light appeared in 
1878, and Edison began his experiments in electric Hghting 
in the same year. 

Emancipation Proclamation. — January i, 1863. 

Engraving on metal invented in 1423; on copper in 
151 1. Improved process introduced by Prince Rupert of 
Palatine in 1648. Engraving process for tints invented by 
Barable, a Frenchman, in 1761. Engraving on wood 
invented at Flanders in 1423, and revived in 151 1 by 
Albert Durer. Engraving on glass invented at Paris in 
1799, by Bondier. 

Envelopes for letters were first used in 1839. 

Etching on copper with aqua fortis was introduced in 
1512. 

Ether was first used in surgical operations in 1844. 

Express. — The first American express 'was operated 
between New York and Boston, in 1 82 1 , by W. F. Harnden. 

False Hair introduced by the courtesans in Italy, and 
first brought into England from France in 1572. 

Fenian Raids into Canada, May 31, 1866; resumed 
February 3, 1870. 

Filibustering raids of Wm. Walker, 1853-60. 

Fire Engines, to force water, existed in very ancient 
times. The first of the kind now in use, but of a vastly in- 
ferior character, was invented by two Dutchmen, each named 
Jan van der Heide, at Amsterdam, in 1518. In 1657 an 
improved engine was introduced at Nuremberg by John 
Hantsch. Fire-engines were first known at Paris in 1699. 
The first volunteer fire company in America was the Union 
of Philadelphia, about 1736. 

Flag. — The American flag was first used by Washing- 
ton at Cambridge, January i, 1776. 

Fortification. — The present mode introduced about 
1500. 

Forks are, comparatively speaking, quite a modern in- 
vention. They were first known in Italy toward the end of 



1054 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

the 15th century. They began to be known in France by 
the end of the i6th century. Introduced in England in 
1608. 

Free Soil Party. — The first national convention was 
held at Buffalo, August 9, 1848. 

Fugitive Slave Law passed by Congress, September 
12, 1850. 

Gamut in music invented by Guy L'Aretin in 1025. 

Gas was first evolved from coal by Dr. Clayton in 1 739.' 
Its first application, as an illuminating medium, was made 
by Mr. Murdoch, in Cornwall, England, in 1792. Sir H. 
Davy, before a committee of the House of Commons, de- 
clared it was not practicable to light London with gas. The 
first display of gaslight was in Birmingham, on the occasion 
of the peace rejoicings of 1802. It was introduced for 
lighting the shops and streets of London, generally in 1814. 
In the United States it was introduced in 1822, in Boston. 

Gilding, with gold leaf, invented in 1273. 

Glass introduced into England, by Benedict, a monk, in 
674. First used in England, for bottles, etc., in 1557. The 
first plate-glass, made at Lambeth, in 1673. Window glass 
first made in England in 1557. 

Grist Mills invented in Ireland in 214. 

Gunpowder was invented by the monk Schwarts in 1 330, 
although used by the Chinese A. D. 80. The Byzantines 
used Greek fire A. D. 668. 

Guns invented in 1330 ; used by the Moors at the siege 
of Algeciras, in Spain, in 1344 : at the battle of Crecy in 
1346, and at the siege of Calais in the year following. 
Adopted by Denmark in 1354 ; used by the Venetians, at 
sea, against the Genoese, in 1377. First used by the Span- 
ish in 1406. The early English guns were first made of 
brass in 1635 : in 1547 they were made of iron. Bombs 
and mortars were invented in 1543. 

Hartford Convention (anti-war), December 15, 18 14. 

Handkerchiefs were first manufactured at Paisley, in 
Scotland, in 1743. 



THE world's progress. 1055 

Heraldry originated in the year iioo. 

HoMCEOPATHY was introduced into the United States in 
1825. 

Horseshoes. — Although the ancients protected the hoots 
of their horses with some covering, horseshoes, of the kind 
now known, were not in general use until the ninth century. 

Hour-Glasses invented in Alexandria 240. 

Hydrometer. — The oldest mention of this instrument 
belongs to the 5th century, but its invention has been 
attributed to Archimedes. 

Infallibility. — The dogma of Papal Infallibility pro- 
mulgated in 1870. 

Inoculation for small-pox, first tried on criminals in 
1721. Vaccine discovered by Dr. Jenner in 1796. 

Insurance. — The first fire insurance office in America 
was in Boston, 1724. The first for life insurance in Lon- 
don, 1772; the first American, in Philadelphia, in 1812. 
Marine insurance dates back to 1598 in England, and to 
1 72 1 in America. 

Interior Ddpartment established March 3, 1849. 

Jesuits. — The order was founded by Ignatius Loyola in 

1541- 

'udiciary Act passed by Congress February 13, 1801, 

Knitting Stockings invented in Spain about 1550. 

Knives were first used in England about 1550. 

Know-Nothing Party (American) arose in New York 
in 1853. National platform adopted and candidate for the 
presidency (Fillmore) in 1856. 

Lace. — The knitting of lace is a German invention, first 
known about the middle of the i6th century. 

Lamp (Sir Humphrey Davy's safety) for preventing 
explosions by fire damp in coal mines, 181 5. 

Lanterns invented by Alfred the Great 890. 

Leyden Jar invented in 1745. 

Liberty Party, national convention at Buffalo, August 

30. 1843- 



IOS6 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Library. — The oldest American library is that of Har- 
vard College, Cambridge, 1638. The first subscription 
library was established at Philadelphia in 1731. 

Lightning-rods were first used by Benjamin Franklin 
about 1752. 

Life-Boats invented by Greathead, who received a 
premium from Parliament in May, 1802. 

Linen when first made in England was regarded as a 
great luxury, and was very costly. A company of linen- 
weavers from the Netherlands was established in London in 
1386. 

Lithographic Printing first brought into England in 
1801. 

Magic Lanterns invented in 1282. 

Magna Charta signed 1215. 

Magnifying-Glasses first made in England by Roger 
Bacon 1260. 

Maps and Globes invented by Anaximander 600 B. C. 

Marble Paper. — A German invention belonging to the 
17th century. 

Matches — Friction matches first used in 1829. 

Mecklenburg county, N. C, Declaration of Independ- 
ence issued May 31, 1776. 

Medicinal Simples first brought into Europe, from the 
East, in 1 200. 

Microscopes first used in Germany in 162 1. Improved 
by Torricelli in 1624. 

Military Academy, West Point, founded by Congress 
March 16, 1802. 

Missouri Compromise passed March 3, 1820, and 
repealed May 24, 1854. It restricted slavery to south of 

36° 30'. 

Mirrors (Silvering) invented by Praxiteles 228 year 

B. C. 

Monroe Doctrine declared in the message of Pres- 
ident Monroe, Dec. 2, 1823. 



THE world's progress. IO57 

Mormons arrived at Salt Lake Valley, Utah, July 24, 
1847. 

Musical Notes invented in 1070 ; improved 1330 ; 
printed 1502. 

Nantes, edict of, tolerating Protestants, issued April 
12, 1598; revocation, Oct. 22, 1685. 

Needles first made in England by a native of India 
in 1545 ; re-invented by Christopher Greening in 1560. 

Netherlands, revolt of, 1565 to 1580, 

New Orleans, battle of, Jan. 8, 181 5, Jackson defeat- 
ing the British. Captured by Farragut April 26, 1862. 

Newspaper. — The first authentic newspaper was printed 
in 1494; first daily, Frankfort Gazette, 1615. The first 
English was the Weekly IVewes, 1622 ; the first in France, 
Gazette de France, 163 1. The first advertisement appeared 
in 1648. The first American newspaper was pr'nted in 
Boston, Sept. 25, 1690, and was called Publick Occur- 
rences, Foreign and Do7nestic. The first continuously 
printed in America was the Boston News Letter, 1702 ; first 
daily. The Pennsylvania Packet, 1784. 

Nullification Ordinance passed by South Carolina 
Nov. 19, 1832. The proclamation of President Jackson 
denouncing the same was issued Dec. 10, 1832. 

Omnibuses were first used in New York in 1830. 

Organs were invented in 750. 

OsTEND Manifesto issued Oct. 21, 1854. 

Paper Hangings. — The invention of hangings of paper 
to take the place of other more costly hangings, has been 
attributed to a manufacturer of paper hangings, named 
Breitkopf, of Leipsic. That kind known as velvet-paper is 
said to have been invented by Jerome Lanyer, an English- 
man, who received a patent for it in 1634, although the 
invention has also been claimed for Francois, a French- 
man, who is asserted to have introduced it at Rouen in 
1620. 

Paper made of cotton, in use in 1000. Made of linen 

'7 



1 058 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

rags in 1319. First introduced in England in 15S8. White 
paper first made there in 1690. Paper was made from 
straw in 1800. 

Paper Money first used in America in 1740, and 
revived in 1788. 

Parchment invented by King Attalus, of Pergamus, 
887 B. C. 

Patent Right Law first enacted in U. S., April 15, 
1790. 

Paving with Stones first introduced at Paris in 11 80. 

Philadelphia was founded by William Penn in 1682, 
Riots, native American and Irish, May 6 to 8, 1844. 

Penny Post introduced for London and its suburbs 
by an upholsterer named Murray in 1681. Adopted by the 
government in 171 1. First set up in 1774 in Dublin. Car- 
ried out on an enlarged scale in 1794, and made a two- 
penny post in 1 801. 

Pens. — The style, or point or bone and metal, which 
was used for writing on tables coated with wax, gave place 
to the reed, pointed and split, and used as a pen with some 
colored liquids. These were gradually abandoned in favor 
of quills. The first known record of quills being used for 
pens is that of Isidore, who died in 636, but supposed to 
have been introduced at an earlier date. The substitution 
of steel for quill pens took place early in the present cen- 
tury, yet, strange to say, nothing is known with certainty 
of the person who first invented the metallic pen. 

Phonograph invented in 1877 by T. A. Edison. 

Phosphorus first made in 1677. 

Photographs were first produced in England in 1802; 
perfected in 1841. 

Pianoforte invented about 17 10 in Italy. 

Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Mass., Dec. 21, 1620, 
although the date is commonly given as Dec. 22. 

Pins were brought from France, and first used in Eng- 
land by Catharine Howard, Queen of Henry VII. Before 



THE world's progress. IO59 

that time both sexes used ribbons, loop-holes, laces with 
points and tags, hooks and eyes, and small skewers made 
of gold, silver, and brass. Pins were first made by machin- 
ery in America in 1832. 

Pipes of Lead, for water, first cast in 1539. 

Pistols first used by the cavalry in 1544. 

Pitch and tar first made from pit coal at Bristol in 
1779. 

Plaster of Paris. — Casting with it from the face 
inventen in 1470. 

Porcelain of Saxony greatly improved in 1767. 

Port-Holes introduced for ships of war in 1545. 

Post-Office first established betwen Vienna and Brus- 
sels in 1 5 16. Posts established regularly between London 
and all the principal towns throughout England in 1635. 
Postage stamps were introduced in England in 1840 ; in 
the United States in 1847. 

Pottery improved greatly by Wedgwood in 1763. 

Printing. — The Assyrians and Babylonians used clay 
tablets, and wooden blocks were used by the Chinese as 
early as 952. Printing from movable types was invented 
by Faust in 1441, and made public by Gutenberg in 1454, 
although the invention is also claimed for L. Koster, of 
Haarlem, as early as 1423. The first Bible was printed by 
Faust and Schoffer in 1456, and they also printed the first 
book with date, a Latin Psalter, in 1457. Wooden type 
first introduced into England, by William Caxton, a London 
merchant, in 1477. The first English press was set up in 
Westminister Abbey, where it remained until 1494. The 
first American book, " Escala Espiritual," was printed by 
Juan Hablas, Mexico, about 1535. The first press in the 
the United States was that of Stephen Daye, at Cambridge, 
Mass., 1639. Printing in colors was first introduced in 
1626. 

Pyramids first erected about 2170 B.C. 



1060 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Quicksilver is first used for refining silver ore in 
1540. 

Railroad. — The first passenger railroad was opened in 
England, Sept. 27, 1825 ; the first in America, Baltimore 
and Ohio, 1828, although freight was moved by rail at the 
granite quarries of Quincy, Mass., as early as 1826. The 
first steam railroad was opened in the United States in 
1830, from Albany to Schenectady — sixteen miles. 

Reformation in Germany, 1517; in England, 1532. 
Republican Party. — The first convention was held at 
Pittsburgh, Feb. 22, 1856. 

Resumption of Specie Payments in the United States 
— Act approved 1875 ; took effect Jan. i, 1879. 

Ribbon Looms. — It has been asserted that these looms 
were first known to the Swiss, but others claim their inven- 
tion for a German in the town of Dantzic in sixteenth 
century. 

Ruling-Machines invented bv a Dutchman in London 
in 1792. 

Saddles. — - Pliny informs us that one, Pelethronius, 
was the first to introduce a piece of leather fastened to the 
back of a horse for the accommodation of its rider. For a 
long time these cloths and pieces of leather were regarded 
as unmanly, and were, therefore, regarded by soldiers with 
great scorn. The old German races despised the Roman 
cavalry for riding on such effeminate contrivances. Saddles 
of the kind now used appear to have been in use in 385. 
Side-saddles first used in 1380. Previous to their intro- 
duction women always rode astride. 

Sailcloth first made in England in 1590. 

Salt Herrings after the Dutch method first used in 
1416. 

Saltpeter first manufactured in England, in 1625. 

Saws. — The inventor of the saw is said, by the old 
Greek writers, to be Talus or Perdox, Pliny ascribes the 
invention to Doedalus, but Hardouin affirms that the pas- 



THE world's progress. io6i 

sage in which he does so refers to Talus, and not to 
Dcedalus. Talus was the son of a sister of Doedalus, and 
the invention is said to be due to his using the jawbone of 
a snake to cut through a piece of wood. His master grew 
jealous of the honor Talus won by this invention, and 
caused him to be privately put to death. 

Sedan Chair introduced into England in 1734. 

Sewing-Machine first patented in England, in 1755. 
The first complete machine was constructed by an Ameri- 
can, Elias Howe, in 1846. 

Sextant invented by Tycho Brahe, at Augsburg, in 

1550- 

Shay's Rebellion, m Massachusetts, 1786-87. 

Sleeping-Cars were first used in 1858. Pullman's 
patent dates from 1864. 

Soap first made in London and Bristol in 1524. The 
first express mention of soap appears in Pliny and Galen. 
The former speaks of it as an invention of the Gauls. 

Speaking-Trumpets invented by Kircher, a Jesuit, in 
1652. 

Spinning- Wheel invented at Brunswick, 1530. 

Spectacles invented by Spina, a monk, of Pisa, in 
1299. 

Stamp Act enacted March 22, 1765 ; repealed March 
19, 1766. 

Statutes of the United States first revised and codified 
in 1873. 

Steam. — The steam engine boiler was discovered by 
the Marquis of Worcester, in 1663. Newcommen's engine 
was patented in 1705, and the invention was perfected by 
James Watt, in 1773. The high presure engine was 
invented by an American, Oliver Evans, in 1779. The 
first steam vessel of which there is any record was that of 
Papin (France), in 1707. Then follow those of Jonathan 
Hulls (England), 1736; William Henry (Conestoga river, 
Pa.), 1703 ; James Rumsey (Md.), 1786 ; John Fitch (Dela- 



I062 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

ware river), same year. In 1806 Robert Fulton constructed 
the Clermont, which plied regularly between New York 
and Albany, at a speed of five miles per hour. The first 
steamer crossing the Atlantic made the voyage from Savan- 
nah to Liverpool in twenty-five days, A. D. 1819. 

Steel. — The invention of steel is of very great anti- 
quity, as the process of hardening iron is described in the 
Old Testament (Isaiah xliv, 12). The helmet of Hercules, 
described in Hesiod, appears to have been of steel. Homer 
refers to the process of hardening steel by immersing it, 
while red hot, in cold water. 

Stereotype Printing invented by William Gid, a gold- 
smith, of Edinburgh; in 1735. 

Stirups, according to a statement made by the Emperor 
Mauritus, were first used in the 6th century. Hippocrates 
and Galen speak of a disease which, in their time, was 
occassioned by long and and frequent riding, because the 
legs hung down without any support. 

Sugar is first mentioned in 625 by Paul Eginetta, a 
physician. It came originally from China and the East ; 
was produced in Sicily in 1 148, in Madeira in 1419, in the 
Canary Islands in 1503, and in the West Indies by the 
Portuguese and Spaniards in 1510. In 1641 it was culti- 
vated 3$ Barbadoes. Sugar-reflning was first carried out 
by a Venetian in 1503, and this process was adopted in 
England in 1569. Sugar cane was first cultivated in the 
United States in 1751, near New Orleans, the first sugar 
mill being constructed in 1758. 

Sunday Schools were first established by Robert 
Raikes, Gloucester, England, in 1781. 

Sun-dials invented 558 B. C. The first in Rome, 308 
B. C, was that erected by Papirius Cursor, when time was 
divided into hours. 

Tanning Leather.— A new and more expeditious 
method than that previously in use was invented in 1795. 

Tax. — The first tax levied on the people was by Solon, 
540, B. C. 



THE world's progress. IO63 

Tea first known in Europe In 1610, being brought from 
India by the Dutch. 

Telegraphs (mechanical) invented in 1687. First used 
by the French in 1794, and by the English in 1796. The 
first electric telegraph was operated from Paddington to 
Drayton, England in 1835, the same year in which Morse's 
telegraph was invented. The first telegraph line in opera- 
tion in America was between Baltimore and Washington, in 
1844. The first submarine cable was laid in 1851, between 
Dover and Calais, and the first Atlantic cable was operated 
in 1858. 

Telephone. — A. Graham Bell first presented a speak- 
ing telephone at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 
in 1876. 

Telescopes. — The first reflecting telescope made on 
the principle discovered by Sir Isaac Newton in 1692. 

Thread first made at Paisley in 1722. 

Thermometers first invented by Drebel, a Dutchman, 
in 1620; improved by Reaumur in 1730; and by Fahren- 
heit in 1749. 

ToBBACCO was first introduced into England, from Vir- 
ginia, in 1583. 

Union of England and Scotland, 1707; Great Britain 
and Ireland, 1801. 

Vaccination. — See Inoculation. 

Ventilators first introduced by the Rev. Dr. Hales in 
1746. 

Violins of the modern kind invented about 1477. 
Introduced into England by Charles II. 

Wall-papers first used in Spain and Holland in 1555. 
Flock or velvet wall-papers were first used in 1620. 

War Ships. — In 1814 Sir Robert Seppings introduced 
various and most important improvements for the construc- 
tion of war ships. The lower parts of the frames of ships 
of war were then, for the first time, filled in, a system of 
diagonal trussing was introduced, the stern was altered in 



I064 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

form, so that it no longer remained open to the fire of an 
ensmy, and the upper decks were enlarged. Sir W. Sy- 
monds altered them so as to decrease the quantity of bal- 
last required in 1832. In the International Exhibition of 
1 85 1, various improvements in this direction were shown 
but great iron-cased ships were not then thought of In 
July, 1854, the first of a new class of crew, gun vessels 
was launched for use during the Russian war. To 
operate with these, vessels of iron were constructed to 
bombard the fortresses in the Baltic. The first French 
iron-cased ship, was a frigate called the "Gloire, " and 
this was quickly followed by the first English ship of 
that kind, the "Warrior." Since then vessels of this 
kind have been subject to a variety of alterations and 
experiments, tending to improve both their strength and 
their sailing qualities. The first battle between iron ships 
of war occurred in the war for the Union, the Merrimac and 
the Monitor being the contestants. 

Watches were invented at Nuremberg in 1477, and 
were first introduced into England from Germany in 1577. 

Water Mills for grinding corn are said to have been 
invented by Belisarius when Rome was besieged by the 
Goths in 555, Pliny, however, mentions wheels turned by 
water, 

Weather-Cocks. — The earliest mention of a weather- 
cock is that made by Vitruvius, concerning that on the 
tower built at Athens by Adronicus Cyrrhestes. 

Wild-Fire invented by a Greek in 663. 

WiLMOT Proviso, to restrict slavery, offered in the 
House of Representatives, Aug. 8, 1846, by David Wilmot, 
of Pa. 

Wire invented at Nuremberg in 135 1. 

Wire-Drawing. — The first record we have of this art 
is probably that contained in Holy Writ, where we are told 
that gold was beaten and cut to threads, so that it could be 
interwoven into cloth. The present mode of forming 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 



1065 



metallic threads, that known as wire-drawing, was first 
known in the 14th century. 

Wot)LEN Cloth.— Although the making of woolen cloth 
is one of the most ancient arts, its manufacture was not 
known in France until 1646, when it was made at Sedan. 
It was first made in England in 1331, but was not dyed or 
dressed until 1667. 

Yellowstone National Park established by Act of 
Congress, Feb. 28, 1871. 




^ ^ousbold geonomjf. 



BeusGKecD GcenGmy. 



Economy in the Kitchen— Washing Dishes. 

An English lady says : There are so many modes of 
washing dishes, that some will take it as quite unnecessary 
that they should be told how to do it. The proper way is 
perfectly simple. Have a pan of hot water in which a little 
soap has been dissolved, and then use a mop made of an 
old linen towel, or candle wicking fastened to the end of a 
stick, and then transfer them to a pan of still hotter water, 
and drain a moment, and wipe dry. This gives them an 
elegant polish. They should be wiped as soon as they 
have been through the last water, else they have a streaked 
effect, which can be felt, if not seen. It is the custom in 
England to drain them in racks, but we think our own mode 
the best — at least with the white ware so fashionable in 
this country, and which is so little known there. 

The glassware should be washed first, then the silver, 
then the cups and saucers, etc., and the greasy dishes last. 
Never wash nor wipe more than one article at a time. 
When china is rough to the touch, it is simply because it is 
not cleansed. Hot water, and plenty of it, dry, clean 
towels, and rapid wiping make the dishes shine like mir- 
rors. You can wash glasses in quite hot water, by rolling 
them round in the water, filling them as soon as they 
touch it, thus making all portions of the glass equally hot. 
They will never crack if treated in this way. Dish-wash- 
ing forms a large proportion of the daily life of the house- 
keeper, and anything which expedites it, and leaves time 
for other things, ought to be welcomed. 

1069 



1070 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

The Damper in the Stove. 



The following, on the use of the damper, although writ- 
ten for stoves in which wood is burned, contains information 
of equal value for those burning coal, whether hard or soft. 
The use of the instrument, must, however, be studied, since 
different fuels require different treatment. Concerning the 
damper, our contributor says : A damper in the stove is 
of great importance in ahouse — both asamatterof economy, 
and of comfort. It makes the hot air remain in the stove, 



ADJUSTABLE STOVE DAMPER. 



and does not take in the outside heated air, which is done 
through the crevices and proper drafts. If the damper is 
shut, you instantly feel the heat on your face, showing that 
it is thus kept in the room. The circulation is thus stopped 
in the room, and a soft, pleasant atmosphere is the result. 



Economy in Fuel. 



The main item is, however, economy in fuel. Not more 
than half the quantity of wood is used, and yet an equal 
amount of heat is obtained. This is of some consequence 
to the purchaser, or to to the person who has the wood to 
chop, and of course, has an extra amount to furnish when it 
goes roaring up the chimney. Then to the housekeeper, 
the fact that she gains more ashes by the use of a damper, 
is an inducement to use one, as they are not lost in the air. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 107 1 



Wood Fuel. 



Drv hard wood is positively necessary, where a damper 
is used. Dry hickory makes the best coals. Maple and 
birch come next, though the flame is not so hot and bright. 
The beech blazes well, but it is too much like soft wood. 
When the blaze is gone there is not much left of it. With 
a damper you can use soft maple. It is often the case that 
when there is not a damper, the fire is continually "going 
down," the heat is unequal, and the temperature of the room 
is being continually rendered cool — first dry, then damp, 
making it disagreeable and dangerous. This matter is of 
the utmost importance to the housekeeper, and should be 
attended to. 

Regulating Coal Tires. 



Never fill a stove more than half or two-thirds full of 
coal, even in the coldest weather. When the fire is low, 
never shake the grate or disturb the ashes, but add from ten 
to fifteen lumps of coal, and set the draft on. When these 
are heated through and somewhat ignited, add the amount 
necessary for a new fire, but do not disturb the ashes yet. 
Let the draft be open half an hour. Then shake out the 
ashes. The coal has thoroughly ignited, and will keep the 
stove at a high heat from six to twelve hours, according to 
the coldness of the weather. In very cold weather, after 
the fire is made, add coal every hour. 

Use of Coal in Sick Rooms. 



You know what a racket is caused, even by the most 
careful hand, in supplying coal to a grate or stove, and how 
when the performance is undertaken by Biddy, it becomes 
almost distracting. If you don't remember, take notice the 



1O72 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

first time you are ill, or have a dear patient in your care, or 
the baby is in a quiet slumber. Let some one bring in the 
coal scuttle or shovel, and revive your recollection. Well, 
the remedy we suggest is to put the coal in little paper 
bags, each holding about a shovelful. These can be laid 
quietly on the fire, and, as the paper ignites, the coals will 
softly settle in place. 

You may fill a coal scuttle or box with such parcels, 
ready for use. For a sick-room, a nursery at night, ar 
even for the library, the plan is admirable. Just try it. 
Besides, it is so cleanly. If you don't choose to provide 
yourself with paper bags, you can wrap the coals in pieces 
of newspapers at your leizure, and have them ready for 
use when occasion requires. Perhaps the "help" will 
kindly do it for you ; or better still, the children, if the 
house is so sunshined, will attend to the wrapping, and 
think it fine fun. 

Economy in Coal. 



In any fire-place not excessively small, a plate of iron 
set upon the grate will halve the consumption of coal, 
reduce the smoke and leave a cheerful, free-burning fire. 
Quite sufficient air enters through the bars, no poking is 
necessary, and the fire never goes out until the coals are 
consumed. There is no ash and no dust, every particle 
being consumed. Any householder can try this experiment 
and reduce his coal bill, say thirty per cent., at the cost of 
a shilling. 

Care of Stoves. 



Blackening and polishing stoves is hard work. In- 
deed, one of the best known lady writers on economy and 
household art, has said that a blackened stove may be a 
nuisance. It may be so in more ways than one. Few 
housekeepers, says our authority, have time to blacken 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. IO73 

their stoves every day, or even every week. Many wash 
them in either clean water or dish-water. This kee.ps them 
clean, but but they look very brown. After a stove has 
been blackened, it can be kept looking very well for a long 
time by rubbing it with paper every morning. If I occasion- 
ally find a drop of gravy or fruit juice tha^ the paper will 
not take off, I rub it with a wet cloth, but do not put on 
water enough to take off the blacking. 



The Uses of Waste Paper. 



Comparatively few housekeepers are aware of the many 
uses to which waste paper may be put. After a stove has 
been blackened, it can be kept looking very well for a long 
time by rubbing with paper every morning. Rubbing with 
paper is a much nicer way of keeping the outside of a tea- 
kettle, coffee-pot and tea-pot bright and clean, than the old 
way of washing them in suds. Rubbing with paper is also 
the best way of polishing knives and tinware, after scour- 
ing. This saves wetting the knife handles. If a little flour 
be held on the paper in rubbing tinware and spoons, they 
shine like new silver. For polishing mirrors, windows, lamp- 
chimneys, etc., paper is better than dry cloth. After it has 
been so used it is none the worse for kindling fires. Pre- 
serves and pickles keep much better, if brown paper, instead 
of cloth, is tied over the jar. Canned fruit is not so apt to 
mold if a piece of writing paper, cut to fit the can, is laid 
directly on the fruit. Paper is much better to put under a 
carpet than straw. It is warmer, thinner, and makes less 
noise when one walks over it. Two thicknesses of paper 
placed between other coverings on a bed, are as warm as a 
quilt. If it is necessary to step upon a chair, always lay a 
paper on it and thus save the paint or woodwork from dam- 
age. A fair carpet can be made for a room not in constant 
use, by pasting several thicknesses of newspaper on the 



1074 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

floor, over them a coat of wall-paper, and giving- them a 
coat of .varnish. 



Cleaning Soiled Marble. 

Much annoyance is frequently experienced from soiling 
marble table-tops, kitchen slabs or other marble objects. It 
is said that if slacked lime is mixed with a strong solution 
of soap into a pasty mass and spread over the spot, and 
allowed to remain for twenty-four or thirty hours, then care- 
fully washed off with soap and water, and finally with pure 
water, the stain will be almost entirely removed, especially 
if the application be repeated once or twice. 



Ox-Gall and Lye. 



Another preparation consists in mixing an ox-gall with 
a quarter of a pound of soap-boiler's lye, and an eighth of a 
pound of oil turpentine, and adding enough pipe-clay earth 
to form a paste, which is then to be placed upon the marble 
for a time, and afterward scraped off, the application to be 
repeated until the marble is perfectly clean. It is quite pos- 
sible that with all our endeavors a faint trace of the stains 
may be left ; but it is said that this will be almost inappre- 
ciable. Should the spots be produced by oil, these are to 
be first treated with petroleum for the purpose of softening 
the hardened oil, and the above-mentioned applications 
may be made subsequently. 



luk Spots on Marble. 



Ink spots may be removed by first washing with pure 
water, and then with a weak solution of oxalic acid. Sub- 
sequent polishing, however, will be necessary, as the lustre 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. IO75 

of the Stone may become dimmed. This can be best pro- 
duced by very finely powdered soft white marble, applied 
with a linen cloth first dipped in water and then into the 
powder. If the place be subsequently rubbed with a dry 
cloth, the lustre will be restored. 



Grease Spots on Wood. 



If one is so unfortunate as to get any sort of grease on 
floor or table, apply directly potter's clay, just wet with 
water so as to form a stiff paste. Spread it pretty thick 
upon the grease spot, and lay a thin paper over to keep it 
from being rubbed off. After twenty-four hours scrape it 
off and spread on fresh clay. It will gradually absorb the 
grease, and leave the floor or table clean; but it may need 
to be renewed several times. When the clay looks clean, 
wash off with soap and water. The clay is also good to 
take grease from clothing, applied in the same way. 

To Clean Tin Covers. 



Mix a little of the finest powdered whiting with the least 
drop of sweet oil, rub the covers well with it, and wipe 
them clean; then dust over them some dry whiting in a 
muslin bag, and rub bright with dry leather. This last is to 
prevent rust, which the cook must guard against by wiping 
them dry and putting them by the fire when they come 
from the dining-room, for if hung up once damp, the inside 
wiU rust. 

Verminous Insects, Cock-Roaches and Bed-Bugs. 



Cockroaches are the plague of many housekeepers, and 
yet a little Paris green is death to them. Keep it in a 
common flour-dredging box, label it poison, and apply it 



1076 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

weekly to their haunts! Bed-bugs or chinch-bugs can also 
be dispersed and utterly routed with this remedy; and both 
cockroaches and bed-bugs will flee from powdered borax. 
Travelers should always carry a paper of borax in their 
bags, and sprinkle it under and over their pillows, if they 
fear they shall become food for the last-named wretches. 



Ants and Flies. 

Sprigs of worm-wood will drive away large black ants; 
and none of them, whether black, brown or red, relish 
wintergreen, tansy, Paris green, cayenne or kerosene; so 
if they invade our pantries, we can, by a judicious applica- 
tion of some one of these articles, make the premises too 
unpleasant for them. Fly-paper should be kept around the 
house as early as the middle of May. Put it in every open 
window, and thus destroy every intruder. It must con- 
stantly be borne in mind, that the cobalt with which some 
fly-paper is saturated, and also Paris green, are two most 
deadly poisons. Keep them safely out of the way of 
children. " 



Expelling Flies From Rooms. 



It is stated that if two and a half pounds of powdered 
laurel leaves are macerated or boiled in two gallons of 
water, until their poisonous quality is extracted, and with 
the solution a whitewash is made, by adding as much quick- 
lime as can be slacked in it, and if a room be whitewashed 
with this preparation^ flies will not settle on the walls for 
six months. If a pastCs made by stirring together one pint 
of the powdered laurel leaves with a quarter pint of 
glycerine, be applied to windows and door casings, a room 
so prepared will soon be emptied of flies. Two applications 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. \0^^ 

of this paste are enough to keep even a kitchen clear of 
insects for a fortnight. 

There is nothing disagreeable or deleterious to human 
beings in the odor of the wash or paste, though laurel 
leaves, or laurel water, taken into the human stomach, acts 
as a violent poison. 

You may also drive flies out with a brush, but, unless 
something is done to render the place uninviting to them, 
they will will return immediately. There are many weeds 
or plants emitting an empyreumatic odor which answer well 
for the purpose. None are more effectual than the wild 
chamomile (Mayweed). The odor of this plant is not at 
all disagreeable, and branches of the weed when in flower, 
or some of the dried flowers, scattered about a room, will 
soon rid it of all flies. 

Another way is to throw some powdered black pepper 
on a hot shovel and carry it about the room. The genera- 
tion of empyreumatic vapors in the same way from other 
spices will also, it is said, answer the purpose. A few 
drops of carbolic acid or creosote, on a cloth hung up in a 
sick-room or used in the dressings, would probably be 
effectual, but the odor is not usually so acceptable to one's 
olfactories. 

The best thing of all is to keep them out. The author 
has never found any means of doing this so cheap, effectual 
and pleasant, as wire screens to all doors and windows. 
This will keep them out, with a little driving occasionally, 
if the doors all open outward. For mosquitoes and gnats, 
when it is impracticable to keep them out, as in the case of 
tents, used while camping out, a little brown sugar burned 
on coals we have found effective in some instances in driv- 
ing them away, but of course a good mosquito-bar is the 
best. 

Cloth and Fur Moths. 



The small moths so destructive to cabinets, tapestry, 
clothes, carpets, furs, grains, etc., are called tineans, and 



1078 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

belong to the natural order lepidoptera. They have four 
membranous wings covered with imbricated scales, like fine 
powder — as the butterflies and moths. Among these are 
the carpet moth, the clothes moth, the fur moth and the 
hair moth. These moths are nocturnal in their habits, fly- 
ing in the evening. They do not lay their eggs in material 
in constant use, and therefore wardrobes, drawers, chests, 
etc., should be frequently examined, and the contents aired, 
and beaten to dislodge the eggs or larvae. 

In old houses subject to their depredations, the cracks 
in closets, and other exposed places, may be brushed over 
with turpentine or other odorous substances. Sheets of 
paper sprinkled with spirits of turpentine, powdered 
camphor, shavings of Russia leather or tobacco, are also 
preventives. Chests and boxes of camphor-wood, red 
cedar and Spanish cedar, are obnoxious to these insects, 
and are useful for preserving costly articles. 

The cloth linings of carriages, etc., may be preserved 
from their repredations by being sponged on both sides with 
a solution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol, just strong 
enough so that it will not bleach a black feather white. The 
insects may also be killed by fumigating with tobacco 
smoke, or the fumes of sulphur. It is also said that if hemp, 
in flower, cut and dried, be placed in a cushion, it will pre- 
vent the ravages of moths for years. 



Book-Destroying Insects. 



Books, large or small, made up of dry paper, are nesting- 
places for a variety of insects, hardly large enough to be 
recognized as living things. Besides making themselves 
homes between the leaves, they feast on the paste, binding, 
twine on the backs and the green mold that gathers on them 
if neglected. One species takes up residence in the binding, 
devouring as it goes. Another feeds upon the paste. Still 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. IO79 

another book pests that is sure to appear in a library, not 
overhauled and dusted occasionally, eats through a volume. 

Bookcases should not be made light with glass doors. 
Wire-netting is far preferable, because the books are kept 
drier; fresh air is all-important. An upper story is superior 
to a basement, being less liable to gather mold, which is a 
forest of minute vines in which bookworms ramble for exer- 
cise. Twice is each summer the books should be exposed 
to a bright sunlight while dusting them, also exposing the 
open leaves to a fresh current of air. 



Furs. 

A GOOD receipe for preserving furs from moths is: One 
ounce gum camphor and one of powdered shell of red 
pepper. Macerate in eight ounces of alcohol for several 
days, then strain. Sprinkle furs, etc., with this tincture, 
roll up in a clean cloth and lay away. 



Kerosene. 



Kerosene is volatile, and its vapor is explosive. Only 
the best oils — from 150 degrees fire test up to 175 degrees 
— should be used. The oil does not explode. An oil may 
even extinguish a burning match when thrown into it, and 
yet be highly dangerous to be used as a burning fluid. It 
is the vapor of these oils mixed with air that is dangerous, 
as far as explosion is concerned. While a partly filled lamp 
has the portion above the oil filled with a mixture of vapor 
and air, it may explode. When a lamp is filled while 
lighted, the mixture of air and vapor in the can or filler ex- 
plodes upon coming in contact with the flame ; the oil itself 
does not explode, though it does serious injury when scat- 
tered by the explosion. 



I080 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Test for Kerosene. 



Dr. Nichols, the well-known chemist and writer on 
chemical science, advises the following test for kerosene : 
Fill a pint bowl two-thirds full of boiling water, and into itput 
a common metallic thermometer. The temperature will run 
up to over 200 degrees. By gradually adding cold water, 
bring down the temperature of the water to 100 degrees, 
and then pour into the bowl a spoonful of the kerosene, and 
apply a lighted match. If it takes fire, the article should be 
rejected as dangerous ; if not, it may be used with a confi- 
dent feeling of its safety. 

The Laundry— Some Helps in Washing. 



The Germans, and especially the Belgians and Holland- 
ers, are noted for their fine washing. Their method, which 
does away with the use of soda, is as follows: Dissolve 
two pounds of soap in about three gallons of water as hot 
as the hand can bear, and add to this one tablespoonful' of 
turpentine and three of liquid ammonia ; the mixture must 
then be well stirred, and the linen steeped in it for two or 
thrree hours, taking care to cover up the vessel containing 
them as nearly hermetically as possible. The clothes are 
afterwards washed out and rinsed in the usual way. The 
soap and water may be re-heated, and used a second time, 
but in that case, half a tablespoonful of turpentine and a 
tablespoonful of ammonia must be added. The process 
will cause a great economy of time, labor and fuel. The 
linen scarcely suffers at all, as there is little necessity for 
rubbing, and its cleanliness and color are perfect. The 
ammonia and turpentine, although their detersive action is 
great, have no injurious effect upon the linen ; and while the 
former evaporates immediately, the smell of the latter will 
disappear entirely in drying the clothes. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMV. IO81 

Washing Summer Suits, Etc. 

Summer suits are nearly all made of white or buff linen, 
pique, cambric or muslin. Whatever the material, common 
washerwomen spoil everything- with soda, and nothing is 
more frequent than to see the delicate tints of linens and 
percals turned into dark blotches and muddy streaks by the 
ignorance and vandalism of a laundress. It is worth while 
for ladies to pay attention to this, and insist upon having 
their summer dresses washed according to the directions 
which they should be prepared to give their laundresses 
themselves. In the first place the water should be tepid, 
the soap should not be allowed to touch the fabric ; it should 
be washed and rinsed quickly, turned upon the wrong- side, 
and hung in the shade to dry, and when starched (in thin 
boiled but not boiling starch) should be folded in sheets or 
towels, and ironed upon the wrong side as soon as possible. 
But lined should be washed in water in which hay or a quart 
bag of bran has been boiled. This last will be found to 
answer for starch as well, and is excellent for print dresses 
of all kinds ; but a handful of salt is very useful to set the 
color of light cambrics and dotted lawns ; and a little ox gall 
will not only set but brig-hten yellow and purple tints, and 
has a good effect upon green. 

To Cleanse Blankets. 

Put two large tablespoonfuls of borax and a pint bowl 
of soft soap in a tub of cold water. When dissolved, put in 
a pair of blankets and let them remain over night. Next 
day rub them out, rinse thoroughly in two waters, and hang 
them to dry. Do not wring them. 

To Wash Flannels. 



I WONDER if housekeepers know that flannel should 
never have soap smeared upon it, or be rubbed upon a 



I082 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



board A hot suds should be made, and the flannel should 
be squeezed through it, rubbing the dirtiest portions in the 
hands as lightly as possible. When the stains are softened, 
another warm water should be ready, into which dip the 
flannels, and squeeze them dry as possible out of it. Shake 
them well, and hang them out where the wind will not 
strike them hard ; never hang them in the sun. 



Washing Fluid. 

Three tablespooniuls of soda, the same quantity of dis- 
solved camphor [the same as kept for family use], to a 
quart of soft water ; bottle it up, and shake well before 
using. For a large washing take four tablespoonfuls of 
fluid to a pint of soap, make warm suds and soak the clothes 
half an hour; then make another suds, using the same 
quantity of soap and fluid, and boil them just fifteen min- 
utes, then rinse in two waters. 



To Remove Acid Stains and Restore Color. 



When color on a fabric has been destroyed by acid, 
ammonia is applied to neutralize the same, after which an 
application of chloroform will, in almost all cases, restore 
the original color. The application of ammonia is common ; 
but that of chloroform is but little known. Chloroform will 
remove paint from a garment or elsewhere, when benzole 
or bisulphide of carbon fails. 

To Preserve Clothes-Pins. 



They should be boiled a few moments and quickly dried, 
once or twice a month, when they become more flexible 
and durable. Clothes-lines will last longer and keep in 
better order for wash-day service, if occasionally treated in 
the same way. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 1083 



To Remove Grease from Worsted. 

Take one-quarter pound of Castile soap, one-quarter 
pound ammonia, very strong, one ounce sulphuric ether, 
one ounce spirits of wine, one ounce glycerine. To mix 
this, cut the soap fine and dissolve in one quart of soft 
water, and then add four more quarts of water and all 
ingredients. 

Two or three daily applications of benzine will also 
remove the grease spots. Apply with a brush or woolen 
cloth. Do not make the application in a warm room, as 
the article is highly inflammable. 



Starching and Ironing. 

Starch and iron shirt bosoms as usual, and when the 
articles are thoroughly dry, place one at a time on a nar- 
row, hard and very smoath board, which has one thickness 
of cotton cloth over it, sewed tightly ; have the polishing 
iron heated so that it will not scorch, and rub it quick and 
hard over the surface, up and down the bosom, using only 
the rounded part on the front of the iron. A still higher 
polish may be obtained by passing a damp cloth lightly 
over the smooth surface, and then rubbing hard and quickly 
with the hot iron. It needs a good deal of patient practice 
to do this admirably, but when once learned, it is as easy 
as other ironing. A polishing iron is small and highly 
polished, with a rounded part, which allows all the friction 
to come on a small part at one time, which develops the 
gloss that may be in both linen and starch. Collars and 
cuffs look nicely done in this way. 

For Lawns. 



Take two ounces of fine white gum Arabic powder, put 
it into a pitcher, and pour on a pint or more of water, and 



I084 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

then, having covered it, let it stand all night. In the 
morning, pour it carefully from the dregs into a clean 
bottle, cork it and keep it for use. A teaspoonful of gum 
water stirred into a pint of starch made in the usual man- 
ner, will give to lawns, either white or printed, a look of 
newness, when nothing else can restore them, after they 
have been washed. 



Gloss for Shirt Fronts, Collars and Cuffs. 



To a pail of starch, a whole sperm candle is used. 
When the linen is dry, it is dipped in the cold starch and 
ironed in the ordinary way ; then it is dampened with a wet 
cloth, and the polishing iron pressed over it. To this last 
manipulation the linen is indepted for the peculiar laundry 
gloss which all admire so much, but which many house- 
keepers have vainly striven to leave upon the wristbands 
and bosoms of their husbands' shirts. 



Bleaching Linens, Etc. 



The best method of bleaching or restoring whiteness to 
discolored linen is to let it lie on the grass, day and night, 
so long as it is necessary, exposed to the dews and winds. 
There may occur cases, however, when this will be dififi- 
cult, and when a quicker process may be desirable. In 
these cases, the linen must be first steeped for twelve hours 
in a lye formed of one pound of soda to a gallon of soft 
boiling water ; it must then be boiled for half an hour in 
the same liquid. A mixture must then be made of chloride 
of lime with eight times its quantity of water, which must 
be well shaken in a stone jar for three days, then allowed 
to settle, and being drawn off clear, the linen must be 
steeped in it for thirty-six hours, and then washed out in 
the ordinary manner. To expedite the whitening of the 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. Io8S 

linen in ordinary cases, a little of the same solution of 
chloride of lime may be put into the water in which the 
clothes are steeped ; but in the employment of this power- 
ful agent, great care must be exercised, otherwise the linen 
will be injured. 



Bleaching Cotton Goods. 



Avery good way, says Mrs. M. T. M., Auburn, 111., to 
bleach cotton cloth is to soak it in buttermilk for a few days. 
Another way is to make a good suds, put from one to two 
tablespoonfuls of turpentine into it, before putting the 
clothes in. Wash as usual, wringing the clothes from the 
boil, and drying without rinsing. By using one tablespoon- 
ful of turpentine in the first suds on washing days, it will 
save half the labor of rubbing, and the clothes will never 
become yellow, but will remain a pure white. It is simple, 
and I never wash without it. 



To Clean Merino. 



Grate two or three large potatoes ; add to them a pint 
of cold water ; let them stand for a short time and pour off 
the liquor clear, when it will be fit for use. Lay the merino 
on a flat surface and apply the liquid with a clean sponge 
until the dirt is completely extracted. Dip each piece in a 
pailful of clean water and hang up to dry without wringing. 
Iron while damp on the wrong side. It will then appear 
almost equal to new. 



Removing Iron Rust. 



Wash the stains in ripe tomatoes. Then hang in the 
sun to dry. After thoroughly drying, wash in clear water. 



Io86 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Home-Made Soap and Candles.— Soft-Soap. 



In making soft-soap, use a pine barrel, for a hard-wood 
barrel will warp and leak. A well-cleansed fish barrel is 
commonly taken for the purpose. Put in ten to twelve 
pounds of potash, and throw upon it two pailfuls of boiling- 
water. Let it digest awhile and then put in two pounds of 
grease to each pound of potash. Have the grease hot. 
Let that digest awhile, then add a third pailful of hot water. 
Stir and digest awhile, then add another pailful of hot water. 
Keep doing this until the barrel is within six inches of being 
full. Stir occasionally until the whole is well mixed. It 
should stand three months before use. Stir occasionally 
during the first week. , The longer it stands after making, 
the better the soap. 

Another Way. 

For one barrel of soap, take thirty pounds of grease, 
free from salt, rinds, or bits of lean meat, and the lye from 
two barrels of good ashes. Put one quart of lime in the 
bottom of each barrel of ashes. Put boiling water on to 
leach with ; have ready the soap barrel where it is to stand. 
When the lye begins to run, melt the grease in a little lye, 
and pour it in the barrel. Heat the lye, and fill it full, stir- 
ring frequently until cold. I always use the stove kettle, as 
that is free from rust, which makes white cloth vellow Soap 
made in this way will be very light-colored and thick, and 
requires but little labor in making. If the lye is not strong 
enough to eat the grease, boil it awhile. 

Cold-Made Soap. 



Have lye strong enough to bear up an egg. Then stir 
in any soap-grease until the lye is pretty well filled, and in 
a week or ten days the soap will be fit for use. In the 
meantime, stir occasionally. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 1087 



Hard Soap. 



Five pounds soda ash, two and a half pounds white 
lime, one-half pound resin, ten pounds grease, eight gallons 
soft water. Boil five hours. Take the soda ash and lime, 
put them in your kettle, pour the water over, and boil one- 
half hour. Then let it settle, and turn off the lye. Lift 
out the lime and soda ash, turn over it more water, as it is 
yet quite strong, return the lye to the kettle, add the grease 
and resin, and boil five hours. This makes excellent soap. 



Second Recipe for Hard Soap. 



Pour four gallons of boiling water over six pounds of 
sal soda and three pounds of unslacked lime. Stir the mix- 
ture well, and let it stand over night. Then drain it off. 
Put six pounds of tallow, or any kind of clear grease with 
it, and boil it two hours, stirring most of the time. 



Lard Candles. 



Take twelve pounds of lard, one pound of saltpeter, one 
pound alum. Pulverize and mix the saltpeter and alum ; 
dissolve the compound in a gill of boiling water ; pour the 
compound into the lard before it is quite melted. Stir the 
whole until it boils, and skim off what rises. Let it simmer 
until the water is all boiled out, or until it ceases to throw 
off steam. Pour off the lard as soon as it is done, and clean 
the boiler while it is hot. If the candles are to be run in a 
mold you may commence at once, but if to be dippod, let 
the lard cool first and cake. Then treat as you Avould 
tallow. 



I088 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Hardening Tallow. 



Take the common prickly pear and boil or fry it in the 
tallow, without water, for half an hour, then strain and mold. 
I use about six average-sized leaves to the pint of tallow (by 
weight one pound of leaves to four of tallow), splitting them 
up fine. They make the tallow as hard as stearine, and do 
not injure its burning qualities in the least. 



To Clean Silver. 



A lady correspondent in Southern California sends the 
following: Silver is most susceptible of spotting and discol- 
oration by sea air, the human perspiration, the presence of 
sulphurated hydrogen (as seen in an egg spoon left un- 
cleaned), the excreta of cockroaches and other strong- 
smelling insects, and lastly, by the contact of mice ; the latter 
cause has irretrievably injured new plated-ware, never used, 
but left on a sideboard accessible to these little vermin. It 
is the practice of the East-Indian jewelers never to touch 
silver and gold with any abrasive substance. The most 
delicate filigree work and wire constructions of silver are 
rendered snowy white by their simple manipulation. They 
cut some juicy lemons in slices ; with these they rub any 
large silver or plated article briskly, and leave it hidden by 
the slices in a pan for a few hours. For delicate jewelry, 
they cut a large lime nearly in half and insert the ornament ; 
then they close up the halves tightly and put it away for a 
few hours. The articles are then to be removed, rinsed in 
two or three waters, and consigned to a saucepan of nearly 
boiling soapsuds, well stirred about, taken out, again 
brushed, rinsed, and finally dried on a metal plate over hot 
water, finishing the process by a little rub of wash leather 
(if smooth work). 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. I089 

For very old, neglected or corroded silver, the article 
may be dipped, with a slow stirring- motion, in rather a weak 
solution of cyanide of potassa, but this process requires 
care and practice, as it is by dissolving off the dirty silver 
yon obtain the effect. Green tamarind pods or oxalate of 
potash are greater detergents of gold and silver articles than 
lemons, and are much more employed by the artisan for 
removal of oxides and fire-marks. 

A strong solution of hyposulphite of soda, as used by 
photographers, is perhaps the safest wash, as it will in no 
way attack the metallic silver, but only the films of chloride, 
etc., on its surface. 



To Paper Walls. 



Mrs. Annie R. White, for many years literary and 
household editor of the Western Rural, discourses as fol- 
lows about the way to paper rooms : Don't try to paper 
with a carpet down. Make paste, cut bordering and the 
paper the day before. If the wall has been whitewashed, 
it must be washed in vinegar to neutralise the alkali in the 
lime. If papered before, and you wish the paper removed, 
sop with water and it will peel off. If convenient, provide 
a long board, wide as the paper, though a table or two will 
do. The paper must be measured, placed right side down 
on the board ; then with a brush proceed to lay on the 
paste, not too thickly, but over every part, and be careful 
that the edges receive their share. When completed, 
double within three inches of the top, the paste sides being 
together ; carry to the wall, mount your chair, and stick 
your three inches of pasted paper on the wall at the top. 
That holds it ; now strip down the other end, and see that 
it fits just right ; if not, peel down, make right, then press 
to the wall from the center right and left. Leave no air 

under, or when warm it will expand, bursting the paper, 

69 



logo THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Of course the paper must be matched ; it will not do to 
measure by lines unless the walls are perfectly plumb. 
Small figures make less waste, and make small room look 
larger. Stripes make a room look higher, and if there are 
no figures between, or in the stripe to match, there is no 
waste, and no trouble in putting on. If a narrow border 
is the style, let it be bright, if the paper be neutral ; but if 
that be bright, the border had better be dark neutral, jf 
the paste be made too thick, the paper will be apt to crack 
and peel off; if too thin, it will saturate the paper too 
quickly, and make it tender in putting it on. A counter-duster 
is nice to brush the paper to the wall. White clean coths 
will do, but will not do to rub the paper with this ; being 
damp, the paint or color rubs off the paper. The tables 
must be dried each time afrer pasting, for the same reason. 
Paste under paper must not freeze, nor be dried too duickly. 
If whitewashing is done after papering, tack double strips 
of newspaper wider than the border all around the room, 
to prevent its soiling the paper. 

Papering Whitewashed Walls. 



If the walls are covered with thick, scaly whitewash, 
the result of years of additions, they must be scraped with 
a thin steel scraper — a hoe will do if carefully used. This 
will smoth them. Then wash them in weak lye and sweep 
off thoroughly when dry. Size the walls with glue water, 
one pound of glue to a pail of water, and the paper will 
stick and not peel off. The paste should be smooth rye 
flour paste, rather thin, but perfectly smooth. Starch paste 
is the ne.xt best. 

Sweeping. 



If brooms are wet in boiling suds once a week they will 
become very tough, will not cut the carpet, will last much 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. lOQl 

longer, and always sweep as clean "as a new broom, "if 
kept hanging up when not when not in use. A most 
admirable way of sweeping a dusty carpet is to have a pail 
of clean cold water stand by the door, into which the broom 
can be dipped, taking care to shake all the drops out of it, 
by knocking it hard against the side of the pail. Then 
sweep a couple of yards or so, wet the broom, and sweep as 
before^ When carefully done, and the drops are all shaken 
out, it will clean a very dirty carpet nicely, and you will be 
surprised at the amount of dirt removed. Sometimes you 
will need to change the water two or three times. In 
winter, snow can be sprinkled over the carpet and swept 
off, before it has time to dissolve. Some throw down tea- 
grounds, and sweep them off briskly. Fresh grass is an . 
excellent cleanser of a carpet, strewn thickly about and 
swept hard. Moistened Indian meal has proved of good 
effect. 

Kalsomining. 



There are as many ways to kalsomine as there are to 
whitewash. The simplest mode we know of is to take ten 
pounds of Paris white, and soak it in cold water — just 
enough to dissolve it well. Take one-eighth of a pound 
best white glue, soaked in cold water enough to cover. Let 
it soak three to four hours ; or till well swelled. If there 
is much liquid by the time the glue is well swollen, take the 
glue out and put it in a saucepan over the fire, with a little 
water to keep it from burning. Mix the dissolved whitening 
thorougely with the hand. Then add the melted glue, 
mixing well. This mixing needs to be done in a large 
vessel. Then pour into these ingredients a quarter of a 
pint of linseed oil, and on top of oil pour sufificient'muriatic 
acid (perhaps ten cents' worth; to cut the oil, stirring it the 
while. After this is done, add cold water enough to the 
whole to thin it down to about a pailful of the liquid. Then 



1092 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

mix a little ultramarine in a cup of cold water, and add to 
the whole, so as to remove the yollow tinge, and make it a 
bluish white. Apply with a clean whitewash brush, one or 
two coats. 



Painting— Best Time for Outside Work. 



Paint houses late in the autumn or during the winter. 
Paint then will endure twice as long as when applied in early 
summer, or in hot weather. In the cold season it dries 
slowly and becomes hard, like a glazed surface, riot easily 
affected afterward by the weather, or worn off by storms. 
But in very hot weather the oil in the paint soaks into the 
wood at once, as into a sponge, leaving the lead nearly dry, 
and ready to crumble oft. This last difficulty might be 
guarded against, though at an increased expense, by first 
going over the surface with raw oil. By painting in cold 
weather, one annoyance might certainly be escaped — the 
collection of small flies in the fresh paint. 



Recipe for Inside Paint. 



A cheap inside paint, and by no means a bad one, espe- 
cially where the smell of oil or turpentine would be objec- 
tionable, or in any cas^ where lead paint is not desirable, 
may be made by taking eight ounces of freshly slacked lime, 
and mixing it in an earthen vessel, with three quarts of 
skimmed sweet milk. In another vessel mix three and a half 
pounds of Paris white with three pints of skimmed milk. 
When these mixtures are well stirred up, put them together, 
and add six ounces of linseed oil. Mix these well and it will 
be ready for use. This preparation is equal to oil paint, and 
is excellent for walls and ceilings. Any shade may be made 
by the addition of dry pigments. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. IO93 



To Soften Putty. 



To remove old putty from broken windows, dip a small 
brush in nitric or muriatic acid (obtainable at any druggist's), 
and with it paint over the dry putty that adheres to the 
broken glass and frames of your windows ; after an hour's 
interval, the putty will become so soft that it can be removed 
easily. 

Spring House-Cleaning. 



Now is the time that tries women's souls, and no sound is 
heard o'er the house save the scrub-brush, the mop and the 
broom. The spring cleaning is at hand. 



Blankets and Furs. 



And first, there are all the woolens, blankets, etc., to be 
washed, and all that can be spared (for we dare not put them 
all out of sight, lest we provoke another snow-storm), are 
to be packed away in deep chests, and plenty of cedar boughs 
strewn over them, or else powdered camphor gum. The 
possessor of a cedar-wopd trunk need have no apprehen- 
sions, but without that, the moth-millers will make sad havoc 
among your furs, woolens, etc., unless you regard them 
carefully. 

The Carpets. 

All carpets do not need to be taken up ; those which 
do not can be loosened at the edges, the dust-brush pushed 
under a piece, and a clean sweep of all the dust can be 
made. Then, wash the floor thus swept, with strong soap- 
suds, and spirits of turpentine after. Then, tack the carpet 



I094 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

down. The odor is soon .q;one, if you open your windows, 
and you can feel safe for this summer, at least. Uphol- 
stered furniture can be treated to the same bath, if applied 
with a soft, clean cloth, and the colors will receive no injury. 
But before using it, brush the cushions with a stiff hand- 
brush and a damp cloth, so as to take away all the dust. 

A good way to clean straw matting after it is laid, is to 
sprinkle corn-meal over it, or damp sand, and sweep it 
thoroughly out. 

Windows Washed. 



Windows are hard to wash, so as to leave them clear 
and polished. First, take a wooden knife, sharp-pointed 
and narrow-bladed, and pick out all the dirt that adheres to 
the sash ; dry whiting makes the glass shine nicely. I have 
read somewhere, that weak black tea and alcohol is a 
splendid preparation for cleaning the window-glass, and an 
economical way to use it would be to save the tea-grounds 
for a few days, and then boil them over in two quarts of 
water and add a little alcohol when cold. Apply with a 
newspaper, and rub well off with another paper, and the 
glass will look far nicer than when cloth is used. 



Furniture Doctored. 



To TAKE out bruises from furniture, wet the part with 
warm water ; double a piece of brown paper five or six times, 
soak it, and lay it on the place ; apply on that a hot iron till 
the moisture is evaporated ; two or three applications will 
raise the dent or bruise level with the surface. If the bruise 
be small, merely soak it with warm water, and apply a red- 
hot iron very near the surface ; keep it continually wet, and 
in a few minutes the bruise will disappear. To remove stains, 
wash the surface with stale beer or vinegar ; the stains will 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. IO95 

be removed by rubbing them with a rag dipped in spirits of 
salt. Re-poHsh as you would new work. If the work be 
not stained, wash with clean spirits of turpentine and 
re-polish with furniture oil. 

Household Hints — Seventeen Facts. 



1. Simple salt and water cleans and preserves matting 
more effectually than any other method. 

2. Tepid tea cleans grained wood. 

3. Oil-cloth should be brightened, after washing with 
soap and water, with skimmed milk. 

4. Salt and water washing preserves bedsteads from 
being infected by vermin ; also, mattresses. 

5. Kerosene oil is the best furniture oil ; it cleanses, 
adds a polish, and preserves from the ravages of insects. 

6. Green should be the prevailing color for bed hang- 
ings and window drapery. 

7. Sal-soda will bleach ; one spoonful is sufficient for a 
kettle of clothes. 

8. Save your suds for the garden and plants, or to 
harden yards when sandy. 

9. A hot shovel held over varnished furniture will take 
out spots. 

10. A bit of glue dissolved in skimmed milk and water 
will restore old rusty crape. 

11. Ribbons of any kind should be washed in cold suds 
and not rinsed. 

12. If flat-irons are rough, rub them well with salt, and it 
will make them smooth. 

13. If you are buying a carpet for durability, you must 
choose small figures. 

14. A bit of soap rubbed on the hinges of doors will pre- 
vent them from creaking. 

15. Scotch snuff, if put in the holeS where crickets come 
out, will destroy them. 



1096 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

16. To get rid of moths and roaches from closets and 
bureau drawers, sprinkle powdered borax over and around 
the shelves, and cover with clean paper. 

17. To remove grease-spots apply a stiff paste to the 
wrong side of the material or garment; hang it up and leave 
it some time ; the grease will have been entirely absorbed 
by the paste, which can then be rubbed off. 



To Clean Looking-Glasses. 



Wash a piece of soft sponge, remove all gritty particles 
from it; dip it lightly into water, squeeze it out again, and 
then dip it into spirits of wine ; rub it over the glass, dust 
it with powdered blue or whiting sifted through muslin ; 
remove it lightly and quickly with a clean cloth, and finish 
with a silk handkerchief. If the glass be a large one, clean 
one-half at a time, otherwise the spirits of wine will dry 
before it can be removed. If the frames are gilt, the 
greatest care must be taken to prevent the spirits of wine 
from touching them. To clean such frames, rub them well 
with a little dry cotton wool ; this will remove all dust and 
dirt, withoirt injury to the gillding. If the frames are 
varnished, they may be rubbed with the spirits of wine, 
which will take out all the spots and give the varnish a 
good polish. 

Fastening Window Sashes. 



A CONVENIENT way to prevent loose window sashes from 
rattling unpleasantly when the wind blows, is to make four 
one-sided buttons of wood, and screw them to the stops, 
which are nailed to the face-casings of the window, making 
each button of proper length to press the side of the sash 
outward when the end of the button is turned horizontally. 
The buttons operate like a cam. By having them of the 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. I097 

correct length to crowd the sills of the sash outward against 
the outer stop of the window frame, the sash will not only 
be held so firmly that it cannot rattle, but the crack which 
admitted dust and a current of cold air will be closed so 
tightly that no window strips will be required. The buttons 
should be placed about half-way from the upper to the 
ower end of each stile of the sashes. 



French Polish. 



To one pint of spirits of wine add half an ounce of gum 
saellac, half an ounce of gum lac, and half an ounce of gum 
sandarac ; place the whole over a gentle heat, frequently 
stirring till the gums are dissolved. Then make a roller of 
of list, put a portion of the mixture upon it, and cover that 
with a soft linen rag, which must be slightly touched with 
cold-drawn linseed oil. Rub them into the wood in a circular 
direction, covering only a small space at a time, till the 
pores of the wood are filled up. Finish in the same manner 
with spirits of wine with a small portion of the polish added 
to it. If the article to be polished has been previously 
waxed, it must be cleaned off win the finest sand-paper. 



Restoring Furniture. 



An old cabinet-maker writes that the best preparation 
for cleaning picture-frames and restoring furniture, especially 
that somewhat marred or scratched, is a mixture of three 
parts of linseed oil and one part spirits of turpentine. It 
not only covers the disfigured surface, but restores the wood 
to its original color, and leaves a luster upon the surface. 
Put on with a flannel, and when dry, rub with a clean soft 
wooden cloth. 



1098 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



The Beds. 



When mattresses and feather-beds become soiled; make 
a paste of soft-soap and starch, and cover the spots, As 
soon as it dries, scrape off the paste and wash with a damp 
sponge. If the spots have not disappeared, try the paste 
again. 

Rough on Grease. 



The following will be found a most excellent prepara- 
tion for taking grease-spots from carpets and other fabrics: 
Four ounces white Castile soap, four ounces alcohol, two 
ounces ether, three ounces ammonia, one ounce glycerine. 
Cut the soap fine ; dissolve in one quart soft water over 
the fire ; then add four quarts more soft water, after which 
add the spirits, and bottle. Cork tight. Apply with a 
stiff brush, and rinse. 

To Brighten Carpets. 



Dissolve a handful of alum in a pail of water, dip your 
broom in, shaking it well, and sweep a small space. Then 
re-dip the broom, and sweep as before, until you have gone 
over the whole carpet. You cannot imagine how it will 
renew the colors in the carpet, especially green. 



Laying Down Oil-Cloths. 



Oil-cloths always come in rolls. The nearer we buy, 
says a correspondent, towards the last end of the piece the 
more they will shrink after laying them down. To prevent 
this, unroll them, place them smoothly on the floor wrong 
side up, and use them so for a week, or even two. Then 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. lOQg 

turn them, and tack them to the floor. This method pre- 
vents their pulling up and cracking, as we often see new 
oil-cloth do. 

Cleaning Gold Chains. 



Put the chain in a small glass bottle, with warm water, 
a little tooth-powder and some soap. Cork the bottle, and 
shake it for a minute violently. The friction against th@ 
glass polishes the gold, and the soap and chalk extract 
every particle of grease and dirt from the interstices of a 
chain of the most intricate pattern ; rinse it in clear, cold 
water, and wipe with a towel. 



To Whiten Ivory. 



Boil alum in water ; into this immerse your ivory, and 
let it remain one hour; then rub the ivory with a cloth, 
wipe it clean with a wet linen rag, and lay it in a moistened 
cloth to prevent its drying too quickly, which causes it to 
crack. 



¥©ileti ReGeipfeS. 



To Remove Freckles. 



Take one ounce Venice soap, one-half ounce lemon- 
juice, one-quarter ounce bitter almonds, one-quarter ounce 
deliquated oil of tartar, three drops oil of rhodium. Dissolve 
the soap in lemon-juice, and add the two oils. Place in 
the sun until it becomes an ointment. Then add the 
rhodium. Anoint at night with this ointment, then wash in 
the morning with pure water, or mixture of elder-blows and 
rosewater. 



IIOO THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Face Wash. 



Take a small piece of gum benzion, boil in spirits of 
wine until it is a rich tincture. Use fifteen drops in a glass 
of water, three or four times a day. Let it remain on to 
dry. It is very efficacious in removing spots, eruptions, 
etc. 



Curling False Hair. 



Wind the hair on smooth round sticks about as large as 
a curling iron, fasten the ends firmly to the stick, then wind 
over the hair a strip of cloth, which must also be fastened 
at the ends, put in a dish of warm water sufficient to cover, 
and let it boil two hours. Remove from the water and 
place in a moderately heated oven to remain until nearly 
dry, when they should be placed in the sun or near the stove 
until they are perfectly dry, when they may be unwound 
from the sticks and brushed over the finger. If too dry or 
not sufficiently glossy, put a little oil on the brush. Care 
should be taken while the hair is in the oven that it does 
not become too warm. 



Cleansing the Hair. 



Use a tablespoonful or two of common spirits of harts- 
horn, in a basin of water; then thoroughly wash the scalp 
and the hair until they are clean ; then wash with clean 
water, wipe dry, and apply a little light oil or promade, if 
needed, to prevent from taking cold. 

Another good hair- wash is : Beat the whites of four 
eggs to a froth, rub well into the roots of the hair. Leave 
it to dry. Wash the head clean with equal parts rum and 
rosewater. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 1 lOl 

Dandruff can be removed by washing the head with 
buttermilk and thoroughly cleansing with pure soft water 
afterward. 

Stimulant for the Hair. 



One of the best stimulants to promote the growth oi the 
hair, when there is danger of baldness, and to hasten 
growth, is as follows : One pint alcohol, castor oil enough 
to take up the alcohol, two ounces spirits ammonia, one- 
quarter ounce oil origanum, one-quarter ounce tincture can- 
tharides. Shake all well together before using. Apply 
about four times a week. 



Glycerine Ointment. 

A GLYCERINE ointment for chaps and excoriations is 
made as follows : One-half ounce spermaceti melted together 
with a drachm of white wax and two fluid ounces of oil of 
almonds by a moderate heat ; the mixture is poured into a 
mortar, when a fluid ounce of glycerine is added to it and 
rubbed till the ingredients are thoroughly mixed and cold. 



Court Plaster. 



Soak isinglass in a little warm water for twenty-four 
hours ; then evaporate nearly all the water by a gentle 
heat, dissolve the residue in a little proof spirits of wine, 
and strain the whole through a piece of open linen. The 
strained mass should be a stiff jelly when cool. Now, 
extend a piece of silk on a wooden frame and fix it tight with 
tacks and thread. Melt the jelly, and apply it to the silk 
thinly and evenly with a hairbrush. A second coating must 
be applied when the first has dried. When both are dry, 



II02 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

cover the whole surface with two or three coatino-s of 
balsam of Peru, applied in the same way. 

TJnfermented Wine. 



Take the pure juice of well-ripened grapes, put in a 
porcelain kettle with about one pound of best white sugar 
to each gallon of juice, and let it boil gently, skimming care- 
fully. Let it simmer slowly till it is reduced about one- 
fifth. Then bottle or can while hot, and you have a rich, 
refreshing drink. 



Elderberry Wine. 



To every quart of the berries put a quart of water, and 
boil for half an hour. Bruise from the skin and strain, and 
to every gallon of juice add three pounds of double-refined 
sugar and one-quarter ounce of cream of tartar, and boil 
for half an hour. Take a clean cask, and put in it one 
pound of raisins to every three gallons of wine, and a slice 
of toasted bread covered with good yeast. When the wine 
has become quite cool, put it into a cask, and place in a 
room of even temperature to ferment. When this has fully 
ceased, put the bung in tight. No brandy or alcohol should 
be added. 



Home Made Inks. 



A GOOD black ink may be made as follows : One gal- 
lon of soft water, one-quarter of a pound extract of log- 
wood, twenty grains bichromate potash, fifteen grains 
prussiate potash. Heat the logwood and water to a boiling 
point, and skim well. Dissolve the potash in one-half a 
pint of hot water, and put all together, stirring well. Boil 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. I 103 

three minutes ; strain, and it is fit for use. A few cloves put 
in each bottle will prevent it from molding. 



Ink Not Injured by Freezing. 



Take about one handful of maple bark — the inside bark, 
the outside bark having- been scraped off. Put it in three 
pints of water, and boil until the strength is all out of the 
bark; then strain the bark out of the ooze. Put in the 
ooze half a tablespoonful of copperas, and boil five or ten 
minutes, until the copperas is all dissolved. Keep stirring. 
This will make near one gill of good ink that will not be 
injured by freezing. 

Indelible Ink. 



Four drachms nitrate of silver, four ounces rain-water, 
six drops solution of nut-galls, and one-half a drachm gum 
Arabic. This will make an ink that will not fade, and costs 
very little. 

Indelible Inks for Brusnes. 



For using with a marking-brusn, an ink may be maoe 
by diluting coal-tar with benzine to a proper consistency, or 
equal parts of vermillion and copperas may be rubbed up 
with oil varnish. Either of these holds well on linen or 
cotton fabrics. 

Ink for Zinc Labels. 



An ink for zinc only, that will endure for years, cuts 
slighdy into metal, has a black color, and is as legible after 
a dozen years as when newly written, is made as follows : 



1104 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

One part verdigris, one part sal ammonia, half part lamp- 
black, and ten parts of water ; mix well and keep in a bottle 
with a glass stopper ; shake the ink before using it. It 
will keep any length of time. Write it on the label with a 
steel pen, not too fine pointed. It dries in a minute or two. 



Recipes for Glue— Isinglass and Spirits. 



A STRONG and fine glue may be prepared with isinglass 
and spirits of wine, thus : Steep the isinglass for twenty- 
four hours in spirits of wine, and common brandy ; when 
opened and mollified, all must be gently boiled together and 
kept well stirred until they appear well mixed, and a drop 
thereof, suffered to cool, presently turns to a strong jelly. 
Strain it while hot through a clean linen cloth, into a vessel, 
to be kept close stopped. A gentle heat suffices to dissolve 
the glue into an almost colorless fluid, but very strong, so 
that pieces of wood glued together with it will sooner sep- 
arate elsewhere than in the points joined. 



A Strong Cement. 



Mix a handful of quicklime with four ounces of linseed 
oil ; boil them to a good thickness, and then spread it on 
tin plates in the shade, and it will become exceedingly hard, 
but may be easily dissolved over a fire, as glue, and will 
join wood perfectly. This glue will resist fire and water. 



Cheap Water-Proof Glue, 



A GLUE that will resist water to a considerable degree is 
made by dissolving common glue in skimmed milk. Fine 
levigated chalk added to the common solution of glue in 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. IIO5 

water makes an addition which strengthens it, and renders 
suitable for sign-boards and things which must stand the 
weather. 



Paste That Will Keep. 



Dissolve a teaspoonful of allum in a quart of water. 
When cold, stir in as much flour as will give it the consis- 
tency of thick cream, being particular to beat up all the 
lumps ; stir in as much powdered resin as will lie on a dime, 
and throw in a half dozen cloves to give it a pleasant odor. 
Have on the fire a teacupful of boiling water, pour the flour 
mixture into it, stirring well at the time. In a very few 
minutes it will be of the consistency of mush. Pour it into 
an earthen or china vessel ; let it cool ; lay a cover on, and 
put in a cool place. When needed for use, take out a por- 
tion and soften it with warm water. Paste thus made will 
last. It is better than gum, as it does not gloss the paper, 
and can be written on. 

The Dyer's Art. 



The time is long since past when spinning and weaving 
constitute an important part of rural economy. It will no 
longer pay even to dye old fabrics at home, except in those 
sections far removed from dyer's establishments. It will 
not pay at all, except for the most common fabrics. Rag 
carpets, however, have not gone out of fashion, and they 
never should, If tastefully made, they are pretty, and for 
kitchen and general family wear, certainly lasting. The 
recipes given by contributors fairly include all the regular 
colors, and will show that this department of rural art is 
still extensively practiced, for many still keep up the knowl- 
edge of the art as much because it amuses them as for any 
other reason. 



II06 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

Coloring Dress and Other Fabrics. 

As to the stability of dyes imparted to silks, damasks 
and fabrics, used in furnishing, an eminent French chemist 
has found that the blue colors produced by indigo are 
stable ; Prussian blue resists moderately the action of air 
and light, but not soap ; scarlet and carmines, produced by 
cochineal and lac-dye, are last ; the most stable colors on 
silk are produced by weld. 

Mordants. 



In colorings it is sometimes necessary to employ mor- 
dants, or substances to "fix" color ; they may even change 
a color ; so, by mixing mordants, different shades are pro- 
duced. But it will not be necessary to enter into this 
subject here. Where mordants are necessary, they will be 
given in the simple recipes. In relation to fixing colors 
generally, and this applies to washing, the following will be 
useful : 

Take a large double handful of bran, put it in a sauce- 
pan and set it over the fire, allowing it to boil thoroughly 
in a quart of water. When thoroughly boiled, strain the 
bran, and throw the water into that in which you are about 
washing your lawn or chintz dress. Let the dress soak for 
an hour or so in it before washing. Instead of starch use a 
weak solution of glue-water, and iron on the wrong side. 



Coloring— Yellow, Blue and Green— Yellow. 



Dissolve one-half pound sugar of lead in hot water ; 
dissolve one-fourth pound bichromate of potash in a vessel 
of wood, in cold water. Dip the goods first in the lead 
water, then in the potash, then alternate until the color 
suits. This quantity answers for five pounds of goods. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. IIO7 



Blue. 



Dissolve one-fourth pound copperas in soft water, suffi- 
cient to color five pounds of goods; put in the goods and 
let them remain fifteen minutes ; then take them out. 
Take clean soft water and dissolve two ounces of prussiate 
of potash. Put in the goods when it is milk-warm. Let 
them remain in this fifteen minutes ; then take out the 
goods, and add one ounce of oil of vitrol to the potash dye 
-.when it is only milk warm ; put in your good again; boils 
or deep blue, and take out before boiling for lighter shades. 



Green. 



Take the yellow dyed by the above receipe, and dye by 
the recipe given for dying blue, and you will have a beauti- 
ful green. 



Coloring Cotton. 



To four pounds of rags take one and one half ounces 
oxalic acid, two ounces of Prussian blue; let each soak over 
night in one quart of rain-water, then put together in as 
much warm rain-water as you want to color with. Put in 
the rags and let them be in twenty minutes. Wring out 
and dip in the following yellow dye: 

Take six ounces of sugar of lead, four and a half ounces 
of bichromate of potash; dissolve in a pint of hot rain- 
water. Take as much hot rain-water as you want to color 
with. Dip first in the lead, then in the potash several 
times. Rinse in cold rain-water. Use tin or copper — no 
simmering is needed. The first makes a blue, the last a 
beautiful yellow, and both a durable green. 



II08 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER 



A Good Yellow. 



Take bichromate of potash, one pound to a pailful of 
water: for blue two boxes of bluing. Color yellow first, 
then dip the goods, either cotton or woolen, into the blue 
dye, and you have a deep durable green. Scald thoroughly. 



Coloring Cotton Eed. 



Take two pounds of Nicaragua, or red wood, four 
ounces solution of tin. Boil the wood for an hour or more, 
turn off the dye into a tub or pail. Then add the tin, and 
put in your cotton. Let it stand five minutes, and you will 
have a nice red. 

Or this. — 'For four pounds of goods, take one pound of 
redwood. Steep in cold water over night, then let it come 
to a boil. Skim out the chips; wring out the goods in 
the dye, then add sufficient muriate of tin to set the 
color; return the goods to the dye, let them remain until 
colored deep enough. Color in brass or tin. 



Coloring Cotton Green. 



D1.SSOLVE six ounces of sugar of lead in hot water, four 
ounces bichromate pottassa in warm water; dip the cloth in 
the sugar of lead, wring out, then dip in the pottasa. Dip 
three or four times, till a bright yellow is obtained. When 
the cloth is dry, dissolve four ounces Prussian blue, four 
ounces oxalic acid. Dissolve separately in warm water; 
then turn together, and dip your cloth in the blue dye, and 
you will have a splendid green. 

Prussian blue and oxalic acid make a beautiful blue for 
cotton. Dip three or four times for a deep shade. Rinse 
in salt-water. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. IIO9 

Or this. — For five pounds of goods dissolve nine ounces 
sugar of lead in four gallons rain-water. Dissolve in an- 
other vessel six ounces bichromate potash in four gallons of 
rain-water. First dye your goods blue (if you wish a dark 
green, you must have a dark blue — if light green, a light 
blue). Dip the goods first in the lead-water, then in the 
potash-water, and then again into the lead ; wring out dry, 
and afterwards rinse in cold water. 

Scarlet and Pink— Scarlet for Woolen Goods. 



To each pound of goods take one ounce of pulverized 
cochineal, one-half ounce of cream-of-tartar, two ounces of 
muriate of tin. Use soft water. Color in tin or copper. Let 
the water get a little warm before putting the dye-stuff in. 
Stir well, so that all is dissolved, then put in the goods and 
let them come to a boilino^ heat and simmer until the rieht 
shade is obtained. A beautiful rose color can be made bv 
taking out when at that shade. It will not fade by washing 
or wearing, but grow darker'as all the other scarlets do. This 
will not do for cotton or silk. 

Pink. 



Take three parts of cream-of-tirtar and one of cochineal, 
nicely rubbed together ; tie a teaspoonful in a mustard bag. 
Put this with a quart of boiling water ; dip in the articles to 
be colored, previously cleaned and dipped in alum water ; if 
wished stiff, put in a little gum arabic. 

Coloring— Black, Brown and Slate— Black. 



Take one pound of extract of logwood. Put it in a kettle 
and fill it half full of water. Dissolve it the day before it is 
wanted, and pour half of it, in a kettle of water. Put in your 



I no THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

yarn and boil half an hour. Have ready a quarter of a pound 
of copperas dissolved in another kettle and take out your 
yarn and pour in half your copperas water again. Put in 
your yarn. Let it remain five minutes. You will then 
haye a nice black. When this is done, you can put in all of 
the rest of your dye and throw in all your old black and 
gray rags and color them over. You will thus have your 
rags in shape to take to the weaver's, and have a nice 
carpet. 

Brown. 



For nine pounds of goods take one-half pound japonica, 
two ounces blue vitrol, one ounce bichromate of potash. 
Dissolve the japonica in enough soft water to cover the 
goods, and let them stay in all night. In the morning 
make a solution of the vitrol and potash ; wring the goods 
out of the other dye and let them stand in this half an hour. 
The goods should simmer in both dyes. For light brown 
use a brass, and for a dark, a copper kettle, to make the 
dyes in. This is a good recipe for coloring dress goods, as 
well as carpet rags. 

Brown With Catechu. 



Take one pound of catechu extract and one-half ounce 
of vitrol ; dissolve in rain water ; the catechu put in water 
enough to wet your goods. Color in an iron kettle. Then 
put in your vitrol. Wet your goods in soapsuds before 
putting in the dye. This is a fast color. 

Slate Color. 



Boil yellow oak bark in an iron kettle until the strength 
is extracted. Take out the bark, then add a very little cop- 
peras, and you have a pretty color. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. till 



Walnut Coloring— Black Walnut, with Walnut Barks 



Walnut bark will color any shade from a lig-ht tan to 
coal-black. Color the wool before carding as follows: Peel 
the bark from the body of the tree — the bark of the root is 
the best. Put it into a barrel, a layer of the bark and wool 
alternately, till you fill the barrel ; then fill up the barrel 
with rainwater. Lay on the top heavy weights. Let it 
stand in the sun or some warm place till you get the shade 
required. 

With Butternut Bark. 



Another way to color yarn, cloth or carpet rags, is to 
boil a large iron kettleful of butternut bark for four hours ; 
take out the bark, put in a spoonful of copperas. If you wish 
a black put in more copperas or a little blue vitriol — ^too 
much vitriol rots the goods. Then while the dye is boiling, 
put in the goods and keep stirring and once every few min- 
utes lift the goods with a stick into the air, then put them 
under. And so on keep watching and moving them till you 
get the shade required. If left folded or packed too tight 
they will spot. 

Nearly Black. 



Put the bark in an iron kettle, and boil until the sti-ength 
is all out; then skim out, and add about one teaspoonful of 
copperas to set the color, airing the goods while boiling. If 
you wish to color woolens, omit the copperas. 

Butternut and Black Walnut. 



Peal the bark when the sap is up ; put in a kettle, cover 
with water and let stand until it sours ; then boil an hour, 
throw out the bark and put in the yarn (woolen wet in soap- 



1 1 12 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 

suds), cover it over with the bark and weigh it down in the 
dye. Let stand for a day, then wring it and hang it out in 
the air for half a day. If it is not dark enough re-heat the 
dye, put back the yarn and let it stand as long again. It 
will be a nice brown that won't fade with washing. Black 
walnut colors the darkest. I believe it would color black by 
having the dye very strong and and airing it often. 

Hickory-Bark Color. 



Hickory bark will color a beautiful bright yellow, that 
will not fade by use. It will color cotton and wool. Have 
the bark shaved off or hewed off, and chopped in small 
pieces, and put in a brass kettle or tin boiler, with soft water 
enough to cover the bark, and boil until the strength is out ; 
then skim out the chips and put in alum. Have it pounded 
pretty fine. For a pailful of dye I should put in two good 
handfuls, and wet the goods in warm water so there will be 
no dry spots on them ; wring them as dry as you can, shake 
them out and put them into the dye. Have a stick at hand 
to push them down and stir them immediately, so they can 
have a chance all over alike. If the color is not deep and 
bright enough, raise the goods out of the dye, lay them 
across a stick over the kettle, and put in another handful of 
alum. Stir it well and dip again. It will want to be kept 
in the dye and over the fire to a scalding heat about an hour, 
but keep stirring and airing, so they will not spot. 

Coloring Carpet Rags.— Drab, Green, Etc. 



To color drab : Save your cold tea and put a little cop- 
peras in it. Boil it up and skim it, and then put in your 
goods and let them remain a short time. 

To color cotton green : First color blue, and then put 
them in a yellow dye. 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. III3 

To color blue : For four pounds of one ounce prussiate 
potash, one ounce copperas, one ounce of alum. Dissolve 
the alum and copperas in water enough to wet the goods. 
Then put them in the potash, and let them remain ten min- 
utes ; then put in the copperas and alum. Let the dye be 
hot. 

To color yellow : Take eight ounces sugar of lead, four 
ounces bichromate potash. Dissolve the sugar of lead in 
hot water, in a jar. Dip the goods in the sugar of lead first, 
and then in the potash, alternately, till you have the color 
desired. This will color six pounds. 



Yellow and Blue. 



For each pound of cotton rags, take one ounce of sugar 
of lead, dissolve in warm water, put in a brass or copper 
kettle. Heat it to a scalding heat and put in the rags. Let 
them , remain in half an hour; then dissolve one ounce of 
bichromate potash in warm water in a wooden dish. Take 
the rags out, dip in the potash, wring out and air. Repeat 
until you use the dye up. You will have a beautiful yellow. 
Be sure and use soft water. 

To color blue : to five pounds of cotton rags take five 
ounces prussiate of potash, five ounces copperas and two 
ounces oil vitriol. Take the copperas and potash, put in a 
copper or brass vessel, heat it till well dissolved. Put in 
the rags, and scald from eleven to thirty minutes. Take 
out and cool. Add oil vitriol, then dip and take out. Hang 
in the shade. You can take more white rags and make a 
pale blue by dipping in after this. Put your yellow rags in 
this same blue dye, and you will have a nice green. Hold 
some in your hand and put in the dve in places, and it will 
be clouded yellow and green. This must be in soft water, 
also. Then hang in the shade, and when dry, rinse in warm 
water. 



I I 14 THE PRACTICAL HOME FARMER. 



Green. 



For five pounds of white cotton rags reeled in skeins, I 
take one pail of the inner bark of yellow oak, cut in fine 
chips, and boil it two hours In three pails of soft water, in 
either tin, brass or copper. Then skim out the bark and 
add one-fourth of an ounce of alum. While the dye is boil- 
ing, take three ounces of Prussian blue, tie it up in a strong 
cotton rag, and rub it in enough soft water to thoroughly- 
wet the rags; squeeze and turn them in the bluing nearly 
half an hour. Wring them out and take as many as you 
can handle at one time and put them in the hot dye, stir 
them around a few seconds and take them out ; then put 
in more until you have them all green. Do not leave them 
in the dye a minute for it will soak out the blue. The rags 
may need to be dipped more than once. This color will 
not fade. If light green is desired, use less blue. 

Green and Red. 



To color carpet-rags green : to five pounds of cotton 
cloth, take one pound of fustic and four ounces of chip log- 
wood ; soak in a brass kettle over night ; heat the dye, 
then add two ounces of blue vitriol ; wet the cloth in suds. 
When the dye is boiling hot put in the cloth. 

For coloring red, for five pounds of goods, take one 
pound of redwood, steep in cold water over night, then let 
it come to a boil, skim out the chips; wring out the goods 
in the dye, then add sufficient muriate of tin to set the color ; 
return the goods to the dye, let them remain until nearly 
colored deep enough ; color in brass or tin. 

Blue and Yellow. 



I FIRST color blue, then yellow. Take one ounce prus- 
siate of potash, one tablespoonful of copperas, one ounce oil 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. HIS 

of vitriol. Bring to a boil. Then put in the goods for 
twenty minutes, skimming often. This is sufficient for five 
pounds. 

To color yellow, dissolve one and a half pounds sugar 
of lead in hot water, one and a half ounces bichromate of 
potash, dissolved in a vessel of wood in cold water. Dip 
first in lead water, then in the potash, and alternate until the 
color suits. 



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